RADIOFREQUENCY CATHETER ABLATION OF PATIE NTS WITH COMMON ATRIAL-FLUTTER

Background: Type 1 atrial flutter is produced by a reentry circuit loc ated nt he right atrium that can be interrupted applying radiofrequenc y in the inferior cavatricuspid valve isthmus. Aim: To report our expe rience in the treatment of atrial flutter with radiofrequency ablation . Patients and methods: Nine patients (eight male) whose ages ranged f rom 6 to 72 years old were studied. Two patients had an operated conge nital cardiopathy, two had high blood pressure, one was subjected prev iously to radiofrequency ablation due to a left paraspecific pathway, one developed a cardiac failure secondary to tachycardia and three did nor have evidences of cardiopathy. Results: In two patients, atrial f lutter was not interrupted. In the other seven patients, radiofrequenc y ablation was successful. There were three relapses in the first mont h after the procedure, of these, two patients were successfully treate d again. After a mean follow up of 4.5 months, these patients are asym ptomatic and without antiarrhythmic drugs. Analysis of obtained signal s, showed that radiofrequency that interrupted atrial flutter always o ccurred in zones of double potentials. Conclusions: Radiofrequency abl ation is an effective treatment for atrial flutter and the zone of suc cessful ablation is associated to the presence of double atrial potent ials.