Cryoballoon ablation beyond pulmonary vein isolation in the setting of persistent atrial fibrillation.

INTRODUCTION

Catheter ablation has been demonstrated to be a safe and an effective treatment for drug resistant atrial fibrillation (AF); electrical isolation of pulmonary veins (PVI) is the main strategy in paroxysmal AF, since pulmonary vein triggers have a pivotal role in its pathogenesis; non-paroxysmal AF is a complex arrhythmia that results from the interplay of a substrate, namely AF-induced electrical and structural atrial remodeling, and a trigger that can be often found outside pulmonary veins, namely non-pulmonary veins triggers.

AREAS COVERED: The aim of this review is to provide a state-of-the-art overview of non-pulmonary veins triggers with special focus on cryoballoon (CB) catheter ablation.

EXPERT OPINION: Besides PVI, CB catheter ablation of non-pulmonary veins triggers is a novel and promising strategy for non-paroxysmal AF.