title: Left atrial anatomy relevant to catheter ablation.
abstract: The rapid development of interventional procedures for the treatment of arrhythmias in humans, especially the use of catheter ablation techniques, has renewed interest in cardiac anatomy. Although the substrates of atrial fibrillation (AF), its initiation and maintenance, remain to be fully elucidated, catheter ablation in the left atrium (LA) has become a common therapeutic option for patients with this arrhythmia. Using ablation catheters, various isolation lines and focal targets are created, the majority of which are based on gross anatomical, electroanatomical, and myoarchitectual patterns of the left atrial wall. Our aim was therefore to review the gross morphological and architectural features of the LA and their relations to extracardiac structures. The latter have also become relevant because extracardiac complications of AF ablation can occur, due to injuries to the phrenic and vagal plexus nerves, adjacent coronary arteries, or the esophageal wall causing devastating consequences.
authors: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain.
authors: Damián
authors: D
authors: Sánchez-Quintana
authors: Department of Cardiology, Hospital Infanta Cristina, 06080 Badajoz, Spain.
authors: José Ramón
authors: 0000-0002-0657-4457
authors: JR
authors: López-Mínguez
authors: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain.
authors: Yolanda
authors: 0000-0003-0594-8557
authors: Y
authors: Macías
authors: Department of Cardiology, Hospital Quirón, European University of Madrid, 28223 Madrid, Spain.
authors: José Angel
authors: JA
authors: Cabrera
authors: Department of Radiology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
authors: Farhood
authors: F
authors: Saremi