title: The Emerging Role of Epicardial Ablation.
abstract: Sosa and colleagues first described a percutaneous approach (via the subxiphoid area) to access the pericardial space in 1996. Epicardial mapping and ablation is increasingly used for the treatment of supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias and represents an adjunctive approach for challenging arrhythmias to improve procedural success rates. Epicardial ablation should be considered not only after the failure of an endocardial ablation but often as a first-line approach. Complications may occur during percutaneous access and epicardial ablation, and these might be reduced or avoided by improved operator skills and experience. New tools to access the epicardial space are being evaluated.
authors.affiliation: Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David's Medical Center, Austin, TX, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas, 3000 North I-35, Suite 720, Austin, TX 78705, USA; Department of Cardiology, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di Biase
authors.affiliation: Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David's Medical Center, Austin, TX, USA; Department of Cardiology, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Santangeli
authors.affiliation: Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David's Medical Center, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Roderick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tung
authors.affiliation: Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David's Medical Center, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: David Burkhardt
authors.affiliation: UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Kalyanam
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shivkumar
authors.affiliation: Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David's Medical Center, Austin, TX, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas, 3000 North I-35, Suite 720, Austin, TX 78705, USA; EP Services, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA; Division of Cardiology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA; Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA; Interventional Electrophysiology, Scripps Clinic, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Natale