Copyright
©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Aug 26, 2015; 7(8): 442-448
Published online Aug 26, 2015. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v7.i8.442
Published online Aug 26, 2015. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v7.i8.442
Reduction of radiation exposure in catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: Lesson learned
Roberto De Ponti, Department of Heart and Vessels, Ospedale di Circolo e Fondazone Macchi, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy
Author contributions: De Ponti R solely contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Roberto De Ponti is a consultant and has received lecture fees from Biosense Webster, Inc.
Open-Access: 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/
Correspondence to: Roberto De Ponti, MD, FHRS, Department of Heart and Vessels, Ospedale di Circolo e Fondazione Macchi, University of Insubria, Viale Borri 57, 21100 Varese, Italy. rdeponti2015@alice.it
Telephone: +39-332-278564 Fax: +39-332-393644
Received: February 11, 2015
Peer-review started: February 13, 2015
First decision: March 20, 2015
Revised: April 23, 2015
Accepted: May 7, 2015
Article in press: May 8, 2015
Published online: August 26, 2015
Processing time: 197 Days and 9.2 Hours
Peer-review started: February 13, 2015
First decision: March 20, 2015
Revised: April 23, 2015
Accepted: May 7, 2015
Article in press: May 8, 2015
Published online: August 26, 2015
Processing time: 197 Days and 9.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: After 25 years from the formulation of the ALARA principle, the awareness of the potential hazard related to radiation exposure has greatly increased in medicine. Non-fluoroscopic three-dimensional systems, introduced in interventional electrophysiology to support complex procedures, have the potential to significantly decrease the use of fluoroscopy. In interventional electrophysiology, the clinical perspective is to perform procedures with minimal use of fluoroscopy without endangering the safety and efficacy. However, to achieve this task the use of the non-fluoroscopic system has to be optimized and a learning curve is necessary even for operators experienced in fluoroscopy-based electrophysiology.