AF ablation is a safe and effective treatment for AF in septuagenarians.

Reverse remodelling measured by LVEF after 3 months is a good predictor of long-term outcome. Patients with an increase in LVEF >or=6 points have an excellent event-free survival approaching 66% at 5 years of follow-up.

Background: The benefit of biventricular pacing (BiV) may be substantially affected by optimal lead placement. Aim: To evaluate the importance of right ventricular (RV) lead positioning on clinical outcome of BiV. Methods and results: A total of 99 patients with symptomatic heart failure and implantation of BiV system were included. Position of the left-ventricular (LV) lead was selected based on timing of local endocardial signal within the terminal portion of the QRS complex. RV lead was preferably positioned at the midseptum (n = 74, RVS group) where the earliest RV endocardial signal was recorded. A subgroup of patients had RV lead placed in the apex (n = 25, RVA group). NYHA class, maximum oxygen-uptake (VO 2 max), LV end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD, mm) and ejection fraction were assessed every third month.A trend towards greater improvement in NYHA class and significant increase in VO 2 max was present in the RVS group. Moreover, a significant decrease in LVEDD (DLVEDD) was observed in the RVS group only (À 3.4 T 6.5 mm versus + 1.7 T 6.4 mm in RVA group at 12 months, p = 0.004). No significant correlation between the degree of DLVEDD and QRS narrowing induced by BiV was found. LVEDD reduction was predominantly present in dilated cardiomyopathy. Conclusions: Midseptal positioning of the RV lead appears to promote reverse LV remodelling during cardiac resynchronisation therapy.

The goal of this study was to analyze total procedural and fluoroscopic time during initial experience with implantation of LV lead in a single center, and to assess the performance of electrophysiologically-guided approach for cannulation of the coronary sinus (CS) in a subsequent period. Over an initial period of 29 months, a total of 46 attempts to implant biventricular pacing system were revised. During the first phase, only one type of LV electrode was available for three implanters (11 attempts). The second phase covered their early experience with other stylet-controlled LV leads (10 attempts). Additional LV leads including the over-the-wire design were available in the third phase and 25 attempts were done by he most experienced implanter. In a period of advanced experience, 92 implant procedures performed by four implanters using an electrophysiologically-guided approach to CS cannulation were revised. In the first period, success rates for different phases reached 70%, 90%, and 96%, respectively. Significant decrease in both procedural and fluoroscopic times was achieved with increased experience (Phase I: 247.1 +/- 104.5 minutes and 31.2 +/- 34.3 minutes, Phase II: 219.4 +/- 85.6 minutes, and 22.9 +/- 19.1 minutes, Phase III: 116.4 +/- 89.9 minutes and 6.6 +/- 4.4 minutes, respectively, P < 0.05). Advanced experience with electrophysiologically-guided approach to CS cannulation allowed achievement of this target within a reasonable amount of time (15.4 +/- 16.3 minutes) and with minimum fluoroscopic time (2.1 +/- 2.9 minutes). In conclusion, both individual learning curve and technical advances significantly influence success rate, procedural, and fluoroscopic times for biventricular system implantation. Electrophysiologically-guided approach makes cannulation of the CS a highly reproducible procedure that requires minimum fluoroscopic time.

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