title: Multimodality imaging for patient evaluation and guidance of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation - current status and future perspective.
abstract: Left atrial catheter ablation is an established non-pharmacological therapy for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. The importance of a noninvasive multimodality imaging approach is emphasized by the current guidelines for the various phases of the ablation work-up e.g. patient identification, therapy guidance and procedural evaluation. Advances in the capabilities of imaging modalities and the increasing cost of healthcare warrant a review of the multimodality approach. This review discusses the application of cardiac imaging for pulmonary vein and left atrial ablation divided into stages: pre-procedural stage (assessment of left atrial dimensions, left atrial appendage thrombus and pulmonary vein anatomy), peri-procedural stage (integration of anatomical and electrical information) and post-procedural stage (evaluation of efficacy by assessment of tissue properties). Each section is dedicated to one of the subtopics of a stage, allowing a thorough comparison to be made between the strengths and weaknesses of the different imaging modalities and the identification of one that exhibits the potential for a single technique approach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Haga Teaching Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands. Electronic address: p.bhagirath@hagaziekenhuis.nl.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bhagirath
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Haga Teaching Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A W M
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: van der Graaf
authors.affiliation: Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Haga Teaching Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: V J H M
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: van Driel
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Haga Teaching Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ramanna
authors.affiliation: Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Rhode
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: N M S
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: de Groot
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Haga Teaching Hospital, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M J W
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Götte
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends
keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Cardiac computed tomography; Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging; Catheter ablation; Echocardiography