Transvenous Before Surgical Hybrid Procedure.

BACKGROUND: Historically, persistent atrial fibrillation (PeAF) and long standing persistent atrial fibrillation (LSPeAF) have demonstrated limited clinical success despite hybrid approaches. OBJECTIVE: We describe our experience with the endocardial-before-epicardial approach defined by a comprehensive endovascular approach preceding and guiding the epicardial approach which includes an extensive posterior wall ablation. METHODS: 40 patients were followed over a 12 month period. The procedure was performed in a single center. Patients had a mean duration of atrial fibrillation of 6.0 ± 4.5 years with 22.5% having undergone prior ablations. Mean age was 61.7 ± 7.9 years with a mean left atrial volume of 131.5 ± 46.9 mL. The endovascular procedure remained uniform with antral pulmonary vein isolation, posterior left atrial roof and right atrial cavo-tricuspid isthmus (CTI) linear lesions with mapping and ablation of left atrial complex electrograms (CFAEs) and prior existing atrial arrhythmias. The epicardial procedure included a thorascopic approach with ganglionated plexus (GP) mapping and ablation, left atrial posterior wall ablation, directed CFAE ablation and left atrial appendage ligation. All patients received implantable cardiac monitoring. RESULTS: All 40 patients remained in sinus rhythm at their 12 month follow-up. During the monitoring period, episodes of paroxysmal atrial arrhythmias including fibrillation were documented, without persistence, after discontinuation of oral antiarrhythmic medications. CONCLUSION: The endo-before-epi approach resulted in improved management of persistent and long standing persistent atrial fibrillation over reported results for conventional approaches with no procedural complications, making this a promising option for the management of these arrhythmias.

Do we really care about incidental lung nodules?-Review of atypical lung carcinoid and a proposal for systematic patient follow up.

Atypical lung carcinoids are intermediate-grade neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) with malignant potential. They are often detected incidentally on imaging done for non-related causes, as the patients are frequently asymptomatic. Histopathology is required to confirm the diagnosis with immunohistochemistry (IHC). Due to their indolent nature, these are often diagnosed only in the advanced stages. Treatment options include chemoradiation for widespread disease versus surgery for local or minimally invasive disease. This article describes a nonsmoker female with enlarging solitary pulmonary nodule who was initially lost to follow up, subsequently operated and with final pathology revealing atypical lung carcinoid. This case stress on the schematic follow up of these incidentally detected pulmonary nodules. Inspired from the mandatory lay mammography report letters recommended by ACR, this article proposes sending lay letters to patients for pulmonary nodule follow up, directly from the Radiology Department to reinforce the importance of timely follow up, which will complement the information provided to the patient from their primary care physician or pulmonologist's office.

Confluent Extended Posterior Left Atrial Wall Ablation: Thinking Inside the Box.

Here, we report intermediate follow-up details after using a technique of confluent posterior left atrial wall epicardial ablation designed to eliminate both existing and future atrial fibrillation (AF) substrates. The method is part of the Convergent hybrid procedure for AF ablation. In this study, multiple confluent epicardial ablations with radiofrequency energy were delivered, spanning the vertical and transverse dimensions of the posterior left atrium, along with facilitated pulmonary vein isolation (PVI). Endocardial mapping and ablation were performed to complete PVI and to ablate the cavotricuspid isthmus. All patients were followed clinically and using two-to-four weeks of continuous monitoring at six, 12, and 24 months, respectively. The average length of follow-up was 488 days. Of the 57 largely unselected patients with persistent or longstanding persistent AF (NPAF), mean duration of AF was 5.6 years. Single procedure freedom from AF through 24 months was 64.5%, and that for all arrhythmias, was 58.9%. Sixty-eight percent of patients were off antiarrhythmic drugs. Four patients (7%) required a second endocardial ablation procedure. A sub-analysis of the observed arrhythmia burden present through follow-up showed this to be small (ie, <1%) in the majority of patients involved in this study. In conclusion, the extended posterior left atrial wall ablation technique discussed here, as part of the Convergent hybrid method, achieved notable single-procedure success in a particularly challenging series of patients with NPAF.