The Practice of Catheter Cryoablation for Cardiac Arrhythmias
Edited by Ngai-Yin Chan
Videos
Video 5.3. Freezing of the left atrial appendage in order to ablate the otherwise intractable ridge. An anterior gap during isolation of the left upper pulmonary vein can be closed by freezing the ridge between the left upper pulmonary vein and left atrial appendage. This maneuver much more easily engages the ridge from the left atrial appendage. Before freezing the appendage, the balloon is torqued clockwise to create the best occlusion of the left atrial appendage at the ridge. To avoid complete isolation of the left atrial appendage, the freeze should be stopped immediately as soon as the muscle spikes of the Achieve catheter disappear.