title: Cerebrovascular Complications Related to Atrial Fibrillation Ablation and Strategies for Periprocedural Stroke Prevention.
abstract: Transcatheter treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) is a complex intervention performed in patients who are at inherently increased risk of a thromboembolic complication, including stroke. It is therefore not surprising that cerebrovascular accidents have been among the most feared complications since the inception of AF ablation. While improvements have been made to limit the incidence of thromboembolic events during catheter ablation of AF, the optimal strategy to minimize such complications has yet to be determined. It is hoped that larger trials using periprocedural anticoagulation strategies can be undertaken to definitively address these important concerns.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University of Debrecen, 22 Móricz Zs, Debrecen H4032, Hungary. Electronic address: drcsanadi@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Zoltan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Csanadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University of Debrecen, 22 Móricz Zs, Debrecen H4032, Hungary.
authors.forename: Edina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nagy-Baló
authors.affiliation: Al-Sabah Arrhythmia Institute (AI), St. Luke's Hospital, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Danik
authors.affiliation: Al-Sabah Arrhythmia Institute (AI), St. Luke's Hospital, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Conor
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.affiliation: Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute, St. David's Medical Center, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: J David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Burkhardt
authors.affiliation: Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute, St. David's Medical Center, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.affiliation: Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Cardiology, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Santangeli
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.affiliation: Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute, St. David's Medical Center, Austin, TX, USA; Department of Cardiology, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy; Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, NY, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di Biase
authors.affiliation: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA; Interventional Electrophysiology, Scripps Clinic, San Diego, CA, USA; Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute, St. David's Medical Center, Austin, TX, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Natale
keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Diffusion-weighted cerebral magnetic resonance imaging; Silent cerebral ischemia; Stroke; Transcranial Doppler