Cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with chronic heart failure: pathophysiology and current experience.

Congestive heart failure afflicts 2 to 4 million people in the US and nearly 15 million people worldwide. Accepted goals of heart failure treatment include: improvement of symptoms;prevention of disease progression; and reduction in morbidity and mortality. Complex pharmacological therapies achieve these goals, but not in all patients with heart failure.

Catheter ablation of chronic atrial fibrillation with noncontact mapping: are continuous linear lesions associated with ablation success?

Catheter-based, right and left atrial compartmentalization procedure was evaluated using a noncontact mapping (NCM) system. Its usefulness to identify and close discontinuities in linear lesions in both atria was evaluated. The impact of linear lesion continuity on ablation success of chronic AF was also investigated.

Noncontact mapping of ectopic atrial tachycardias: different characteristics of isopotential maps and unipolar electrogram.

The success rate for catheter ablation of ectopic atrial tachycardia (AT) has been limited by the inherent difficulty in localizing the site of origin within the complex three-dimensional structures of the atria. The objective of the study was to determine the usefulness of a noncontact mapping system for catheter ablation of AT. Radiofrequency ablation of 25 ATs was performed using a noncontact mapping system.

Embolic events in patients with atrial fibrillation and effective anticoagulation: value of transesophageal echocardiography to guide direct-current cardioversion. Final results of the Ludwigshafen Observational Cardioversion Study.

Objectives: The primary objective was to evaluate the usefulness of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE)-guided cardioversion to prevent thromboembolic complications in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and effective anticoagulation (International Normalized Ratio of 2 or 3) at least three weeks before cardioversion.

Background: Transesophageal echocardiography has been proposed as a method of screening patients for left atrial thrombi before direct-current cardioversion of AF. The usefulness of TEE as a screening tool has always been evaluated in patients without long-term anticoagulation before cardioversion.