Asymptomatic cerebral lesions during pulmonary vein isolation under uninterrupted oral anticoagulation.

Aims: Left atrial radiofrequency ablation has been shown to carry a risk of asymptomatic cerebral lesions. No data exist in patients under continued oral anticoagulation during the ablation procedure. The aim of this study was to quantify the amount of silent cerebral lesions assessed by pre-procedural and post-procedural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients under therapeutic international normalized ratio (INR) and to identify clinical or procedural parameters that correlate with cerebral embolism.