Transesophageal Echocardiography-Guided Transseptal Left Atrial Access to Improve Safety in Patients Undergoing Pulmonary Vein Isolation

BACKGROUND: Endovascular pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) has become an important strategy for rhythm control in patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF). Transseptal access is a critical step of this procedure and can result in potentially life-threatening complications. This retrospective study evaluates the safety of standardized, transesophageal echocardiography (TEE)-guided transseptal access to the left atrium in consecutive patients who underwent PVI. METHODS: After the implementation of a standardized, TEE-guided procedure for transseptal access, the data of 404 consecutive PVI procedures using radiofrequency ablation and 3D-mapping were prospectively collected over 5 years. TEE-guided transseptal punctures were performed on 375 patients undergoing one to three PVIs. The patient cohort was retrospectively analyzed for major and minor complications, fluoroscopy time, fluoroscopy dose and ablation outcomes. RESULTS: No single complication related to transseptal access occurred, affirming the safety of the TEE-guided approach. Fluoroscopy time and fluoroscopy dose decreased significantly after 152 procedures. PVI-related minor complications occurred in 11 procedures (2.6%) and included 10 vascular-access-related complications (2.4%) and 1 TEE-related esophageal hematoma (0.2%), which healed spontaneously. CONCLUSION: Our single-center study shows that TEE guidance may allow safe transseptal access to the left atrium in patients undergoing PVI.