Esophageal Deviation During Atrial Fibrillation Ablation

Esophageal injury and temperature monitoring during atrial fibrillation ablation.

BACKGROUND It is common practice to empirically limit the radiofrequency (RF) power when ablating the posterior left atrium during atrial fibrillation ablation to avoid thermal injury to the esophagus. The objective of this study was to determine whether RF energy delivery limited by luminal esophageal temperature (LET) monitoring is associated with a reduction in esophageal injury compared wit...

Left atrial-esophageal fistula after atrial fibrillation ablation.

1158 CMAJ, September 17, 2013, 185(13) © 2013 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors References 1. Cappato R, Calkins H, Chen S, et al. Prevalence and causes of fatal outcome in catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation. J Am Coll Cardiol 2009;53:1798-803. 2. Mohr FW, Fabricius AM, Falk V, et al. Curative treatment of atrial fibrillation with intraoperative radiofrequency ablation: short-...

Limitations of esophageal temperature-monitoring to prevent esophageal injury during atrial fibrillation ablation.

A number of complications have been associated with ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF), including arterial thrombo-embolism, pulmonary vein stenosis, phrenic nerve injury, and pericardial tamponade.1–4 Esophageal injury, manifested as esophageal perforation or left atrial-esophageal fistula, has been reported after catheter or surgical ablation of AF using radiofrequency (RF) current5–8 and c...

Esophageal injury following radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation: injury classification.

Pericardial-esophageal fistula complicating cryoballoon ablation for refractory atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation affects an estimated 2.7–6.1 million people in the United States and accounts for more than 750,000 hospitalizations per year. Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) has been well established as the most effective ablation treatment available for patients with symptomatic and medication-refractory atrial fibrillation. Previously, radiofrequency (RF) ablation was the mainstay for PVI...