Background: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is an established treatment option for patients with drug refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. A novel compliant endoscopic ablation system housing a 980-nm-diode laser allows for discrete point-by-point ablation enabling a true circumferential ablation line design. We sought to determine the feasibility and safety of a circumferential ablation using endoscopic ablation system.
Methods and results: Thirty patients (17 female; mean age, 58±9 years) with a median paroxysmal atrial fibrillation history of 3 years (range, 1 to 17 years) were treated. PVI was achieved in 114 of 116 (98%) PVs (4 left common PVs), thereby achieving simultaneous PVI for separate ipsilateral PVs in 19 of 26 (73%) left PVs and 6 of 30 (20%) right PVs. The total procedure time was 250±62 minutes. Procedure time decreased from 310±59 to 220±37 minutes (P=0.0001) between the first 10 and the last 20 cases. Mean fluoroscopy time was 30±18 minutes. Twenty-seven patients underwent postoperative endoscopy showing no or minimal thermal lesions in the esophagus in 21 (78%) and 2 (7%), respectively. In 4 (15%) patients, an esophageal ulceration was found that healed without sequelae. One pericardial tamponade and 1 right-sided phrenic nerve palsy occurred. During a median follow-up of 168 days (113 to 203 days; q1-q3), 24 of 30 patients (80%) remained free of atrial fibrillation recurrence.
Conclusions: Circumferential PVI using the novel compliant endoscopic ablation system was feasible in the majority of left PVs and minority of right PVs accompanied by a complication rate comparable to established approaches. To minimize the risk for thermal esophageal injury temperature monitoring is recommended.