title: "Electrically silent" pulmonary veins connecting to the right atrium: does the atrium make the difference?
abstract: Pulmonary veins (PVs) usually drain into the left atrium (LA) and are frequently targeted for electrical isolation, since it became evident that PVs may trigger and maintain paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). We present a patient with right-sided PVs anomalously connecting to the right atrium with lack of electrical PV-atrial connection. Therefore, isolation of the left veins was performed resulting in freedom from AF as shown during a midterm follow-up. These findings indicate that PV connection to the LA may be a prerequisite for the arrhythmogenic properties of the PVs causing AF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrophysiology, Heart Center, University Hospital Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. d.steven@uke.uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Steven
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rostock
authors.forename: Tushar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Salukhe
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Müllerleile
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Willems
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome