ABLATION FOR THE TREATMENT OF ARRHYTHMIAS

Surgical ablation of supraventricular cardiac arrhythmias has been ren dered obsolete by the various modalities of electromagnetic transcathe ter ablation techniques. Arty ablation technique, including surgery, i s essentially the controlled destruction of a substrate which is actin g as a source or a critical circuit limb of an arrhythmia. The most su ccessful and popular modality is radiofrequency (RF) ablation although other, modalities such as de shock, laser microwave, and ultrasound a re also being investigated. This review discusses the role of electric al ablation, especially: RF ablation, as a treatment for supraventricu lar tachyarrhythmia and reviews the engineering principles and biologi cal responses to ablation. A brief synopsis of the results of electric al catheter ablation procedures is presented. RF catheter ablation is a successful technique in clinical arrhythmia management, with reporte d success rates of greater than 95% in many series. The indications fo r clinical RF catheter ablation continue to broaden.