Prevention of oesophageal injury during catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: is monitoring of oesophageal temperature the solution?

摘要

Atrio-oesophageal fistula is among the most dangerous complications of interventional treatment of atrial fibrillation. The complication was first observed during intraoperative radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation but subsequently also reported after catheter based radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation. Atriooesophageal fistula is associated with high mortality even if the correct diagnosis is made relatively early. However, the diagnosis of the complication often is delayed because of the significant time delay of its occurrence after the ablation procedure (which mostly is 1 -4 weeks) and unspecific initial symptoms.