Quénéhervé L, Musquer N, Léauté F, Coron E. Endoscopic management of an esophagopericardial fistula after radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation. World J Gastroenterol 2013; 19(21): 3352-3353 [PMID: 23745039 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i21.3352]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Emmanuel Coron, MD, PhD, Digestive Diseases Institute, University Hospital of Nantes, 1 Place Alexis Ricordeau, 44035 Nantes, France. emmanuel.coron@chu-nantes.fr
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2013; 19(21): 3352-3353 Published online Jun 7, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i21.3352
Endoscopic management of an esophagopericardial fistula after radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation
Lucille Quénéhervé, Nicolas Musquer, Franck Léauté, Emmanuel Coron
Lucille Quénéhervé, Nicolas Musquer, Emmanuel Coron, Digestive Diseases Institute, University Hospital of Nantes, 44035 Nantes, France
Franck Léauté, Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Nantes, 44035 Nantes, France
Author contributions: All authors contributed to conception and design of this case report; Quénéhervé L and Musquer N wrote the draft and the final manuscript; all authors revised and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Emmanuel Coron, MD, PhD, Digestive Diseases Institute, University Hospital of Nantes, 1 Place Alexis Ricordeau, 44035 Nantes, France. emmanuel.coron@chu-nantes.fr
Telephone: +33-2-40083097 Fax: +33-2-40083154
Received: January 4, 2013 Revised: February 19, 2013 Accepted: March 6, 2013 Published online: June 7, 2013
Core Tip
Core tip: We report the successful endoscopic management of an esophagopericardial fistula induced by radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation. Esophagopericardial fistulas are a complication of great significance, being extremely difficult to manage and having a very high mortality rate. In this case, the patient was treated with a fully covered esophageal stent combined with surgical pericardial drainage. It is important to be aware of the increasing incidence of post-radiofrequency esophageal complications for cardiological applications. Furthermore, the possibility to place endoscopic stents as a potential therapeutic option for the occurrence of post-radiofrequency esophageal fistula is extremely important as part of a treatment plan for this complication.
