title: Ablation of atrial fibrillation: patient selection, techniques, and the results.
abstract: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia, affecting an estimated 2 million people in the United States and its prevalence increases with age, reaching 10% in those > or = 80 years. AF confers a four- to fivefold increased risk of stroke compared to the general population and has been associated with a doubling of all-cause mortality. During the past decade, limited success rates of drug treatment stimulated an exploration of interventional treatment options for AF. As our knowledge on initiating triggers and perpetuating substrate of AF expanded, different potentially curative catheter ablation techniques have been developed. In this article we review the current patient selection criteria, methods, and the results of the catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation.
authors.affiliation: Heart Center, Department of Electrophysiology, University of Leipzig, Strümpellstrasse 39, Leipzig, Germany. dr.arasharya@gmail.com
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arya
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Piorkowski
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bollmann
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hindricks
mesh_terms: D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000601:surgery*; D013617:Tachycardia, Supraventricular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome