Transseptal puncture using minimally invasive echocardiography during atrial fibrillation ablation
Laurens Mitchell-Heggs1, Nicolas Lellouche, Leslie Deal
1Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, APHP, Henri Mondor Hospital, 51 av De Lattre de Tassigny, 94 010 Creteil, France.
Aims:
To assess the usefulness of miniature transoesophageal echocardiography using a 10 F intracardiac probe (ICE-TEE) for transseptal catheterization during atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation.
Methods And Results:
Intracardiac echocardiography probe was used transoesophageally in 79 consecutive patients (56 ± 11 years, 73% male) referred for AF ablation (60% paroxysmal and 38% persistent) to guide transseptal puncture. Transseptal catheterization monitored by ICE-TEE was well tolerated and successfully performed in all patients without any sedation. No mechanical oesophageal complication was noted. Moreover, the mean duration between ICE-TEE probe insertion and successful transseptal puncture was 4.5 min and the mean time of ICE-TEE was 10 min. Finally, no tamponade occurred during the AF ablation procedure.
Conclusion:
Intracardiac echocardiography-TEE is safe and well tolerated for the guidance of transseptal catheterization during AF ablation. Moreover, this technique was performed without requiring any anaesthesia.
