Heart 2001;86:265-270 ( September )

Cardiovascular medicine

Architecture of the pulmonary veins: relevance to radiofrequency ablation S Y Ho^a, J A Cabrera^b, V H Tran^a, J Farré^b, R H Anderson^c, D Sánchez-Quintana^d

^a National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust, Dovehouse Street, London SW3 6LY, UK, ^b Fundación Jimenez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, ^c Institute of Child Health, University College, London WC1, UK, ^d Universidad de Extremadura, Departamento de Anatomía Humana, Facultad de Medicina, Badajoz, Spain

Correspondence to: Dr Ho yen.ho{at}ic.ac.uk

Accepted 2 May 2001

BACKGROUNDRadiofrequency ablation of tissues in pulmonary veins can eliminate paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.
OBJECTIVETo explore the characteristics of normal pulmonary veins so as to provide more information relevant to radiofrequency ablation.
METHODS20 structurally normal heart specimens were examined grossly. Histological sections were made from 65 pulmonary veins.
RESULTSThe longest myocardial sleeves were found in the superior veins. The sleeves were thickest at the venoatrial junction in the left superior pulmonary veins. For the superior veins, the sleeves were thickest along the inferior walls and thinnest superiorly. The sleeves were composed mainly of circularly or spirally oriented bundles of myocytes with additional bundles that were longitudinally or obliquely oriented, sometimes forming mesh-like arrangements. Fibrotic changes estimated at between 5% and 70% across three transverse sections were seen in 17 veins that were from individuals aged 30 to 72 years.
CONCLUSIONSThe myocardial architecture in normal pulmonary veins is highly variable. The complex arrangement, stretch, and increase in fibrosis may produce greater non-uniform anisotropic properties.


Keywords: arrhythmias; catheter ablation; fibrillation; cardiac veins

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© 2001 by Heart
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