Saline irrigation maintains a low electrode-tissue interface temperature during radiofrequency application at high power, which prevents an impedance rise and produces deeper and larger lesions. A higher temperature in the tissue (3.5 mm deep) than at the electrode-tissue interface indicates that direct resistive heating occurred deeper

These basic and clinical studies suggest that localized cardiac autonomic ganglia (GPs) may play a critical role in the initiation and maintenance of AF.

The effects of AG stimulation at the base of the RSPV can provide a substrate for the conversion of PV firing into AF.

No abstract