title: Combined Ablation and Exclusion of the Left Atrial Appendage in a Pediatric Patient: A Minimally Invasive Simplified Approach.
abstract: We present the first reported case of totally video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for combined ablation and external exclusion without appendectomy of the left atrial appendage. We encourage the use of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for a combined procedure of epicardial radiofrequency ablation and external exclusion without appendectomy to achieve a safe and complete electrical isolation of the left atrial appendage in children with focal atrial tachycardia. In our opinion, the external exclusion of the appendage has several advantages: it presents minimal risk of bleeding (especially in the pediatric population), and the clip can be retrieved if the circumflex artery is distorted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: ramonpc2003@yahoo.es.
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pérez-Caballero-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pita-Fernández
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María-Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: González-López
authors.affiliation: Department of General Pediatric Surgery, Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan-Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: De-Agustín-Asensio
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan-Miguel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gil-Jaurena
mesh_terms: D020517:Atrial Appendage / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical / Q000517:prevention & control; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; D013525:Surgical Instruments; D013612:Tachycardia, Ectopic Atrial / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / Q000379:methods*