Pulmonary veins: Anatomy, electrophysiology, tachycardia, and fibrillation

Abstract

Recent years have seen an enormous amount of experimental and clinical research into role of the pulmonary veins (PVs) in atrial fibrillation (AF). Advanced imaging techniques have confirmed the findings of earlier postmortem studies and added further dimension to our knowledge of PV anatomy. Such work is vital for an effective approach to successful ablation of AF. Detailed mapping studies suggest that reentry within the PVs is most likely responsible for their arrhythmogenicity, although focal or triggered activity cannot be excluded. Further work also implicates the posterior left atrium in the genesis of AF. Investigation into the interplay between the PVs and left atrium has led to a re..