title: Cryotherapy of cardiac arrhythmia: From basic science to the bedside.
abstract: This review focuses on the basic science of cellular destruction by tissue freezing and application of transvenous cryocatheter technology to treat cardiac arrhythmia. Ideally, foci for arrhythmias are selectively ablated, arrhythmogenic tissues are destroyed, and reentry circuits are bisected in order to silence adverse electrical activity, with the goal of restoring normal sinus rhythm. The mechanism of ablation using cryotherapy results in distinct lesion qualities advantageous to radiofrequency (Khairy P, Chauvet M, Lehman J, et al. Lower incidence of thrombus formation with cryoenergy versus radiofrequency catheter ablation. Circulation 2003;107:2045-2050). This review is devoted to the mechanism of cryoablation, postablation histopathological changes, and how this information should be used by the clinicians to improve safety and maximize ablation success.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. Electronic address: bavitall@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Boaz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Avitall
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalinski
mesh_terms: D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D017679:Cryotherapy; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000601:surgery
keywords: Arrhythmia; Cryoablation; Cryoballoon; Pulmonary vein isolation