El Aislamiento de las Venas Pulmonares como Tratamiento de la Fibrilación Auricular Refractaria

introduction. atrial fibrillation (af) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. in selected patients, catheter ablation was performed at the sites of the pulmonary veins where ectopic activity triggers af. our experience with af treatment by pulmonary vein isolation in 152 consecutive cases is presented and discussed. methods. our population consisted mainly of men (122 of 152 patients), with an average age of 55.6 years. paroxysmal af was present in 65.9% of the cases and 81.9% of the population had a structurally normal heart. af had been present for an average of 7 years. all of the patients fulfilled a treatment period protocol in which three different antiarrhythmic drugs were used first. nonfluoroscopic mapping and antral pulmonary vein isolation were performed sequentially results. the procedural success rate was 97.9%. there were 12 complications, including 4 pericardial effusions but none required surgical repair. the mean follow-up period was 18±6 months. af recurred in 24 patients after the third month of follow-up. there was an 84.04% success rate at 12 months: 88.3% for the group with a normal heart and 64.1% for the group with a cardiomyopathy. conclusion. isolation of the pulmonary veins can be achieved in appropriately selected cases with af and has an acceptable rate of success