This international consensus statement is intended to help cardiologists and other health care professionals involved in the care of adult and pediatric patients with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), which encompasses a broad range of disorders, by providing recommendations for evaluation and management and supporting shared decision making between health care providers and patients in a document format that is also useful at the point of care.This consensus statement was written by experts in the field chosen by the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) and collaborating organizations.
Background-The aim of this study was to evaluate whether selective radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation of the atrial sites in which high-frequency stimulation induces vagal reflexes prevents paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods and Results-Ten patients with episodes suggestive of vagal-induced paroxysmal AF and no heart disease were selected for percutaneous epicardial and endocardial mapping of the atria to search for sites in which high-frequency transcatheter stimulation (20 Hz,) induced vagal reflexes. A vagal response defined as AV block of Ͼ2 seconds was elicited in 7 of 10 patients (70%) with an average of 5Ϯ2.4 (range, 2 to 9) sites per patient, and RF pulses (21.0Ϯ12.0 per patient) were applied at those sites to eliminate all evoked vagal reflexes. The 3 patients in whom evoked vagal reflexes were not obtained underwent circumferential pulmonary vein ablation with an average of 58.0Ϯ13.9 RF pulses per patient (Pϭ0.022). Autonomic evaluation was performed before and 48 hours and 3 months after the procedure and was consistent with vagal withdrawal in all patients. Two of the 7 patients who underwent denervation remained asymptomatic without the use of antiarrhythmic medication at a mean follow-up of 8.3Ϯ2.8 months (range, 5 to 15 months); 4 had frequent recurrences and were referred for circumferential pulmonary vein ablation; and 1 had few AF episodes without antiarrhythmic medication. The 3 patients without evoked vagal reflexes who underwent circumferential pulmonary vein ablation remained asymptomatic without antiarrhythmic medication. One patient had acute delayed gastric emptying after atrial vagal denervation.
Conclusions-RF
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