Why the study?
Pulmonary vein occlusion is a known complication of radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation, but managing chronic total occlusion with delayed presentation poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.
Wire escalation techniques adapted from coronary CTO angioplasty can be successfully used to stent chronic total pulmonary vein occlusions following AF ablation.
CT may miss residual flow in chronic total PVO; successful CTO-technique stenting leaves optimal post-ablation imaging strategy open.
Pulmonary vein occlusion (PVO) is a known complication of radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation. We present a case with delayed presentation leading to chronic total PVO. Computed Tomography (CT) imaging did not predict the presence of residual flow. Despite this, the occlusion was successfully stented using wire escalation techniques adapted from chronic total occlusion coronary angioplasty, with resolution of symptoms. This emphasises the importance of combining CT with invasive angiography for patient selection and interventional strategy. Innovative angioplasty techniques used to overcome PVO need to be balanced against additional risk of perforation when dealing with extra-cardiac structures.
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Hussain et al. (2023) studied this question.
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