食管造影及温度监测指导环肺静脉消融治疗心房颤动

Objective Because of the severe consequences of an atrial esophageal fistula,it is vital to avoid this complication. The most safe way is to avoid ablating the segment of esophagus behind left atrium (LA). What we do is to image the relationship of esophagus to posterior LA wall and real-time esophageal tem-perature monitoring to ablate the posterior LA wall. Methods Sixty-four patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrilla-tion (PAF) were enrolled to pulmonary veins (PV) isolation. Swallowing a radiocontrast agent at the same time when imaging of LA to observe the relationship of esophagus to posterior LA wall and according to the different relationship between the segment of esophagus behind LA and PV, the esophagus were divided into type Ⅰ , type Ⅱ and type Ⅲ. A esophageal temperature probe was inserted and advanced into the esophagus directly posterior to the LA. Three steps ablation strategy and real-time esophageal temperature monitoring were applied to guide the PV isolation. The procedure was interrupted when the esophageal temperature was 39℃ until] the tempera-ture renormalized and ended when PV were isolated. Results There were 48 type ⅠI , 11 type Ⅱ and 5 type Ⅲ esophagus in the 64 patients. After three steps ablation,all PV isolations were completed. Only 18.8% of the patients needed to ablate the posterior LA close to the esophagus. Conclusion Only one PV ostiolum close to the posterior LA wall in most PAF patients and many of them can achieve complete PV isolation without ablating the posterior LA close to esophagus which could minimize the risk of esophageal injury dramatically.

Pulmonary veins isolation in atrial fibrillation guided by esophagus imaging and real-time esophageal temperature monitoring