Outcome in patients with left common pulmonary vein after cryoablation with second-generation cryoballoon.

Background: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) has become a widely accepted therapy in patients suffering from symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF).

Hypothesis: AF-free survival differs in patients with left common pulmonary vein (LCPV) after PVI with second-generation cryoballoon.

Methods: We included patients scheduled for first PVI for paroxysmal or persistent AF.

Comparison of 'anatomically designed' and 'point-by-point' catheter ablations for human atrial fibrillation in terms of procedure timing and costs in German hospitals.

Aims: The purpose of the FAST-PVI study was to compare 'traditional' ablation tools based on 'point-by-point' technology with the new 'anatomically designed' technologies in terms of procedure times and related costs for the treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Methods And Results: Four hundred and fifty-two consecutive ablation procedures (222 'anatomically designed', 136 Arctic Front® and 86 PVAC®) and 230 'point-by-point' ablations (100 CARTO XP and 130 NavX navigation systems) performed by nine university centres across Germany from 2006 to 2010 were evaluated retrospectively. Staffing and resources times for each procedure were documented together with patient morbidities, complications, and pulmonary veins isolations.

Fluoroscopy of spontaneous breathing is more sensitive than phrenic nerve stimulation for detection of right phrenic nerve injury during cryoballoon ablation of atrial fibrillation.

Introduction: Right phrenic nerve palsy (PNP) is a typical complication of cryoballoon ablation of the right-sided pulmonary veins (PVs). Phrenic nerve function can be monitored by palpating the abdomen during phrenic nerve pacing from the superior vena cava (SVC pacing) or by fluoroscopy of spontaneous breathing. We sought to compare the sensitivity of these 2 techniques during cryoballoon ablation for detection of PNP.

Prevalence and clinical relevance of the morphological substrate of ventricular arrhythmias in patients without known cardiac conditions detected by cardiovascular MR.

Objective: Cardiac MR (CMR) identifies the substrate of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) in cardiomyopathies and coronary heart disease. However, little is known about the value of CMR in patients with VA without previously known cardiac disorders.

Methods: 76 patients with VA (Lown ≥2) without known cardiac disease after regular diagnostic work-up were studied with CMR, and findings were correlated with electrocardiogram (ECG) and electrophysiological stimulation (EPS).

The Connexin40A96S mutation from a patient with atrial fibrillation causes decreased atrial conduction velocities and sustained episodes of induced atrial fibrillation in mice.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of cardiac arrhythmia and a major cause of stroke. In the mammalian heart the gap junction proteins connexin40 (Cx40) and connexin43 (Cx43) are strongly expressed in the atrial myocardium mediating effective propagation of electrical impulses. Different heterozygous mutations in the coding region for Cx40 were identified in patients with AF.