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Updated: Jul 20, 2026
Cooling or Warming the Esophagus to Reduce Esophageal Injury During Left Atrial Ablation in the Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation
Published on: March 15, 2020
Mechanical esophageal deflection during ablation of atrial fibrillation
Bengt Herweg1, Nancy Johnson, Gilbert Postler
1Arrhythmia Service and Division of Cardiology, Tampa General Hospital and University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33606, USA. bherweg@hsc.usf.edu
Abstract:
To prevent esophageal damage during ablation of atrial fibrillation, we developed a technique to move the esophagus away from a desired ablation site too close to the esophagus. Under fluoroscopy, a transesophageal echocardiography probe was used to deflect the barium-opacified esophagus from the ablation site. This technique was successfully employed in three patients where critical sites of the posterior left atrial wall were very close to the esophagus.
