Circulation: Arrhythmia And Electrophysiology On The Beat

  Paul Wang:         Welcome to the monthly podcast On the Beat for Circulation, Arrhythmia, and Electrophysiology. I'm Dr. Paul Wang, Editor in Chief, with some of the key highlights from this month's issue. We'll also hear from Dr. Suraj Kapa, reporting on new research from the latest journal articles in the field.                                 In our first study, Boris Schmidt and associates studied 134 patients with persistent atrial fibrillation, randomized to laser balloon or wide area circumferential pulmonary vein isolation using irrigated radiofrequency current ablation and 3D mapping.                                 They found that 71% of patients in the laser balloon group had freedom from atrial fibrillation between 90 and 365 days after a single ablation, similar to 69% of patients in the radiofrequency group, p=0.40. In the laser balloon group, one patient developed stroke, one had false aneurysm and one had phrenic nerve palsy. In the radiofrequency group, two patients developed a false ane