Balloon-Based Ablation Technologies.

Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is widely accepted as the mainstay of interventional treatment of atrial fibrillation. Ablation with radiofrequency (RF) point-by-point catheters is highly operator dependent and may fail because of ineffective lesions or gaps. Several balloon-based catheter ablation technologies have emerged as an alternative to effect PVI. Cryoballoon ablation is widely used, and current iterations of the technology show comparable acute and long-term efficacy to RF ablation. Techniques such as time to isolation have emerged to improve efficacy and safety. Laser balloon is a highly compliant variably sized balloon that has been validated as an effective strategy for PVI.