Journal of Arrhythmia

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is the most common arrhythmia following cardiac surgery (CS). It may occur between the 1st and the 4th postoperative day as acute POAF or between the 5th and the 30th as subacute (sPOAF). sPOAF is associated with higher thromboembolic risk, which consistently increase patients' morbidity. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a low-cost inflammatory index proposed as possible POAF predictor. Identification of patients' risk categories might lead to improved postoperative outcomes...

BACKGROUND: The lesion index (LSI) has been used to estimate lesion formation after radiofrequency catheter ablation. However, the impedance drop and decrease in bipolar amplitude of intracardiac electrograms, which are parameters that are traditionally used to predict effective ablation lesions, are not used to calculate LSI. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between LSI and traditional parameters. METHODS: We retrospectively investigated 1355 ablation points from 31 patients who underwent LSI-guided pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using TactiCath...

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The shoehorn technique is a simple and safe maneuver that can help to solve difficulties in challenging transseptal sheath crossing for atrial fibrillation cryoablation procedures.

BACKGROUND: This study thought to elucidate the anatomical features that can predict an epicardial connection (EC) between the right pulmonary vein (RPV) and right atrium. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 251 consecutive patients undergoing initial radiofrequency pulmonary vein isolation. We defined EC as present when RPV could not be isolated with circumferential ablation and additional ablation for the conduction gap if needed, and RPV isolation could be achieved by ablation for the earliest activation site >10 mm inside the initial ablation line...

Bipolar radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) is a novel strategy for refractory or recurrent ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) resistant to conventional ablation methods. Lesions created during bipolar RFCA are larger than those created during sequential unipolar ablation. We present a case of refractory LV summit VAs, which identified the origin using a 2.7-F over-the-wire microelectrodes catheter, and it was successfully treated with bipolar RFCA in the acute phase.

BACKGROUND: We conducted a study to evaluate the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (AFL) in periodontal disease (PD) patients. METHODS: Cohort studies that evaluate the risk of AF or AFL in PD patients were included. The risk was expressed in the pooled odd ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: A total of four cohort studies were included. We found that patients with PD have a significantly higher risk of AF/AFL compared to those without PD with the pooled OR of 1...

OBJECTIVE: Depression and anxiety show a bidirectional relationship with atrial fibrillation (AF). Antidepressant use is associated with a reduction in the incidence of AF. However, no studies have examined the relationship between antidepressant use and AF burden (time in AF). This retrospective cohort study examined cardiac implantable device-detected AF episodes and their relationship with antidepressant use, among other treatment factors. METHODS: Consecutive patients from the Western Health Cardiology Department attending pacemaker checks between 2015 and 2021 were included...

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We encountered acute pulmonary vein (PV) stenosis during radiofrequency catheter ablation. PV stenosis was not apparent before redo ablation (A). However, acute PV stenosis was observed after repeat ablation, including carina ablation (B, C). Computed tomography performed 6 months post-ablation revealed chronic PV stenosis (D).

We presented a detailed time course of RFCA-associated PV calcification process. Because RFCA-associated PV calcification may progress over time even with a single ablation, long-term caution should be paid in cases of especially extensive ablation and/or patients with stiff LA syndrome.

This is a slow-fast atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) case wherein the fractionation map-guided cryoablation of the slow pathway (SP) successfully terminated the tachycardia. In this case, the Advisor™ HD Grid catheter and fractionation map in the EnSite™ X EP system with relatively high-sensitive settings were useful for detecting the target SP area. Direct AVNRT termination by cryomapping at the fractionated potential area might be a quick and safe ablation strategy, which may provide a new workflow for SP ablation...

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have revealed the risk factors for femoral pseudoaneurysms (FPA). Most data on FPA are based on coronary and peripheral interventions, with limited studies focusing on atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. However, patient backgrounds, anticoagulation regimens, and vascular access methods differ. In addition, a standard for managing FPA after AF ablation remains elusive due to the difficult nature of achieving thrombosis in pseudoaneurysms. METHODS: This single-center, retrospective, observational study included 2805 consecutive patients who underwent AF ablation between January 2016 and December 2021...

BACKGROUND: Drug-induced life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias including torsade de pointes (TdP), ventricular tachycardia (VT), and ventricular fibrillation (VF) are serious cardiac side effects. Psychotherapeutic drugs are known to be risk factors for arrhythmias. The aim of this study was to evaluate psychotherapeutic drugs associated with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database. METHODS: From the JADER database (April 2004 to September 2022), cases of TdP, VT, VF, and QT prolongation in patients taking psychotherapeutic drugs as 'suspected drugs' were extracted...

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The fusion of narrow-QRS sinus-generated beats with end-diastolic ventricular extrasystoles occurring in bigeminy can produce an electrocardiographic pattern difficult to differentiate from parasystole. Such an ECG should not be interpreted as 2:1 RBBB because of the variability of the PR intervals.

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BACKGROUND: Cryoballoon ablation is safe and effective for pulmonary vein isolation in patients with symptomatic drug-refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. To monitor adhesion between the balloon and the pulmonary vein, an alternative technique to pulmonary venography is to analyze changes in the pressure curve. METHODS: We have described the adhesion level characterized by four types of pressure waveforms. RESULTS: These correlated with the extent of contrast agent leakage (Cohen's kappa of 0...