Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been identified as associated with the onset and propagation of atrial fibrillation (AF) and predicts recurrences of AF after pulmonary vein isolation (PVI). Vice versa, it has never been investigated whether PVI influences OSA. However, it has been controversial whether a restored atrial function can affect the course of OSA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Cardiovasc Electrophysiol
July 2012
Introduction: In order to optimize power delivery into the myocardium during radiofrequency ablation (RFA) without overheating the electrode tip, active cooling of the tip electrode as well as electrode tips made of gold have evolved. Recently, an externally irrigated gold tip electrode ablation catheter has been developed to combine the advantages of these 2 technologies. We sought to investigate the procedural parameters tip temperature, delivered power and cooling flow requirements of the irrigated gold tip catheter in comparison to the conventional irrigated platinum iridium (Pt) tip catheter in pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) and cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI) ablation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To address the question whether obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with the recurrence of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients treated with ≥2 pulmonary vein isolation procedures.
Patients And Methods: In this study, we included adults with therapy-resistant symptomatic paroxysmal AF, defined as AF recurring after ≥2 PV-isolation procedures (n = 23). For comparison, we selected another cohort of patients being successfully treated by one PV isolation without AF recurrence within 6 months (n = 23).