Interv Akut Kardiol. 2013;12(3):135-140

Complications of catheter ablation for cardiac arrhythmias

Bashar Aldhoon, Josef Kautzner

Klinika kardiologie, IKEM Praha

Catheter ablation has established itself as a first-line therapy for the majority of supraventricular and many ventricular tachyarrhythmias.

Long-term success of catheter ablation of different types of arrhythmias is impressively high and often exceeds 95 %. On the other hand,

catheter ablation may be associated with complications, given by the invasive nature of catheterization procedure in general (eg. vascular

complications) or related to the type of performed procedure (eg. atrioventricular block during atrioventricular node modification). In

ventricular arrhythmias associated with structural heart disease, higher complication rate reflects clinical status of the patient, often with

advanced heart failure and other accompanying diseases. This paper summarizes the current knowledge of the potential complications

associated with catheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias.

Keywords: catheter ablation, complication, supraventricular arrhythmia, ventricular arrhythmia

Published: May 15, 2013  Show citation