Present concepts in management of atrial fibrillation: From drug therapy to ablation

Table 1 Different electrical cardioversion techniques: advantages, disadvantages and efficacy

	Advantages	Disadvantages	Efficacy (%)
External cardioversion	Safety Effectiveness Feasibility Outpatient regimen (not in all the centers)	General anaesthesia (physical presence of anaesthesiologist) Need of high energies	94
Oesophageal cardioversion	Efficacy with lower energies Outpatient regimen No general anesthesia First choice in obese and COPD patients Safety in patients with pacemaker or ICD Atrial pacing back up	High cost of the catheter Contraindicated in patients with oesophageal diseases	95
Internal cardioversion	Very high effectiveness Use of very low energy No general anaesthesia	Need of an electrophysiology laboratory Invasive approach Pain perception	93