Catheter ablation for atrial tachyarrhythmias: which patients are indicated for the procedure and what is the follow-up care?

Česká verzia

Authors: doc. MUDr. Mgr. Alan Bulava, Ph.D.
Authors place of work: Kardiocentrum Nemocnice České Budějovice, a. s. alanbulava@seznam. cz
Published in the journal: Kardiol Rev Int Med 2008, 10(Mimořádné): 10-16

Summary

Atrial fi brillation is undoubtedly the most frequent heart rate disorder. The prevalence of this type of arrhythmia in general population is estimated to exceed 1 % and its incidence increases with age. The vast medical and socioeconomic implications of this problem are also accentuated by the fact that arrhythmia is related to a number of clinical consequences, e. g. thromboembolic cerebrovascular accidents, congestive heart failure, cognitive dysfunction and, last but not least, increased mortality. The paper deals with the pathophysiology of atrial fibrillation and its primary focus is on the new options for its non-pharmacological treatment, especially radiofrequency catheter ablation which has become a widely used procedure in spite of having been introduced in clinical practice just a few years ago. The effect of this treatment of atrial fibrillation highly exceeds the efficiency of standard anti-arrhythmia drugs. The greatest limitation for radiofrequency ablation today is the variability of the results in the different centres performing the procedure, a relatively higher incidence of complications, and last but not least the time consuming nature of the procedure and the resulting restrictions on the number of patients getting the treatment.

Key words

atrial fibrillation – pathophysiology – radiofrequency catheter ablation

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