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Multislice CT: is it essential before atrial fibrillation ablation?

Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands

Correspondence to:
Dr M J Schalij, Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Centre, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands; M.J.Schalij@lumc.nl

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) is performed in an increasing number of centres world wide. The recent guidelines on management of AF propose catheter ablation as a reasonable option when first-line antiarrhythmic drugs have failed.¹ Several ablation strategies (such as segmental ostial ablation, circumferential ablation) exist, and there is still debate about the optimal ablation strategy. Meanwhile, new ablation strategies targeting fractionated signals,² or isolation of the coronary sinus³ are being developed. However, in order to be successful and regardless of the ablation strategy applied, knowledge on pulmonary vein (PV) and atrial anatomy is crucial for the cardiologist performing AF ablation procedures.⁴

PULMONARY VEIN ANATOMY
Previous anatomical studies have demonstrated that PV anatomy is highly variable.⁵ Variations in its anatomy include "common" ostia of the PVs, additional PVs and anomalous insertion of the PVs. Therefore, accurate visualisation of PV anatomy before and during the ablation procedure is necessary. Different imaging techniques are . . . [Full text of this article]

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