Ablating Persistent Atrial Fibrillation - Still Learning While Burning!

Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) remains the cornerstone of atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation for both paroxysmal and persistent AF; however, the rates of freedom from arrhythmia observed after PVI for persistent AF are markedly lower compared with the rates observed for paroxysmal AF.1-3 Inexorable atrial structural and electrical remodeling in AF leads to an arrhythmogenic substrate that favors the genesis and perpetuation of persistent AF. The pathogenesis of paroxysmal AF differs from that of persistent AF.