title: The Role of Renal Sympathetic Denervation in Atrial Fibrillation.
abstract: Endocardial catheter ablation is a widely used alternative for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). Despite technical improvements, and increased understanding of mechanism, and acquired technical experience over many years, the results are not yet optimal. This results in an ongoing search for new therapeutic approaches. Because cardiac sympathetic drive is potentially responsible for triggering and sustaining AF, modulation of sympathetic tone has been proposed as a viable treatment objective. The early attempts to test this concept were limited by nature=highly intrusive techniques but new approaches and targets have been recently introduced. Specifically, renal nerve ablation has been introduced and the first attempts to employ this technique for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias give as a promise of new therapeutic avenues in near future. This review focuses on the possible role of renal denervation in treatment of atrial fibrillation, the contemporary evidence supporting this approach, and the ongoing trials to establish its therapeutic role.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrophysiology, Heart Center Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Jedrzej
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kosiuk Md
authors.affiliation: State Research Institute of Circulation Pathology, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Evgeny
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pokushalov Md Phd
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrophysiology, Heart Center Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hilbert Md
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrophysiology, Heart Center Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hindricks Md
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrophysiology, Heart Center Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bollmann Md PhD
authors.affiliation: Arrhythmia Institute, The Valley Health System and the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: S Steinberg Md
keywords: Atrial Fibrillation ; Renal Artery Denervation; Review