Catheter ablation

Catheter ablation is a minimally invasive procedure that uses energy delivered through thin catheters to destroy or isolate heart tissue causing abnormal electrical signals.

Electrophysiology study: A heart procedure that records electrical activity through catheters to identify the source and pathways of arrhythmias. It maps the abnormal signals that guide where ablation is applied.
Atrial fibrillation: An arrhythmia in which disorganized electrical activity causes the atria to quiver irregularly. Pulmonary vein isolation is a common ablation approach for this rhythm.
Antiarrhythmic drug: A medication used to prevent or control abnormal heart rhythms. Drugs can suppress arrhythmias without creating permanent tissue lesions.
Cardiac tamponade: Compression of the heart caused by fluid or blood accumulating in the pericardial space. Catheter perforation can cause bleeding into this space during ablation.
Cardiac conduction system: The network of specialized heart cells that generates and conducts electrical impulses coordinating each heartbeat. Ablation modifies selected parts of this system to prevent abnormal activation.
Radiofrequency ablation: A technique that uses catheter-delivered radiofrequency current to heat tissue and create lesions. It is a widely used way to create the tissue lesions that interrupt arrhythmias.
Atrial flutter: A rapid, usually regular atrial rhythm often sustained by a reentrant electrical circuit. Ablation can interrupt the circuit, commonly across the cavotricuspid isthmus.
Electrical cardioversion: A procedure that delivers a synchronized electrical shock to restore a normal heart rhythm. It resets rhythm acutely rather than targeting the tissue that sustains an arrhythmia.
Pulmonary vein stenosis: Narrowing of one or more pulmonary veins, sometimes caused by injury during atrial fibrillation ablation. It is a recognized complication of ablation near the pulmonary vein openings.
Action potential: A brief change in a cell's electrical membrane potential that can propagate as a signal. Cardiac action potentials generate the electrical signals recorded and altered during ablation.

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