title: Circumflex artery stenosis induced by intraoperative radiofrequency ablation.
abstract: We report a case of circumflex artery stenosis after intraoperative radiofrequency ablation for permanent atrial fibrillation in a patient who had a previous mitral valve replacement. The patient presented with acute pulmonary edema and severe angina 1 year after an uneventful recovery. The patient underwent a diagnostic angiography that showed the presence of stenosis of a long segment of the circumflex artery, adjacent to the radiofrequency ablation site, which was reopened successfully by angioplasty. Intraoperative radiofrequency ablation caused circumflex artery stenosis. We believe that this complication could have been avoided by applying the radiofrequency ablation more distally between the left pulmonary veins and the mitral valve.
authors.affiliation: Service de Chirurgie Cardiovasculaire, Hôpital Cardiologique, CHRU de Lille, France. g-fayad@chru-lille.fr
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fayad
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Modine
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Le Tourneau
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Decoene
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Azzaoui
authors.forename: Sharif
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Ruzzeh
authors.forename: Jean Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lablanche
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Warembourg
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000601:surgery; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged