Multipolar Mapping and Atrial Arrhythmias

Atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (AFL) are the most common cardiac arrhythmias in adults, and account for a substantial portion of patient morbidity and healthcare expenditures. Great effort has been put forth to discover effective treatments for AF/FL. Promising results of catheter ablation suggest that AF/FL may be eliminated in a majority of patients. For example, data from numerous laboratories shows that up to 85 percent of patients with the paroxysmal form of AF may be free of recurrences and off anti-arrhythmic drugs at one year follow-up.

Inclusion criteria

Patients referred to the PI (Dr. Biviano) or co-investigators in the Program of Cardiac Electrophysiology at Columbia University Medical Center who are scheduled to undergo ablation will be approached for recruitment:

• Older than 45 years of age
• History of AF and/or AFL and are candidates for catheter ablation.

Exclusion criteria

Patients not fitting the above clinical criteria or unwilling to comply with the instructions of the monitor are excluded, as well as patients with the following:

• Permanent leads or prosthetic or stenotic valves present
• Active systemic infection
• Echocardiographically-confirmed visual presence of thrombus
• For whom the inability of obtaining vascular access exists
• Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
• Hemodynamic instability or shock