About Atrial Fibrillation and Interventional Electrophysiology

Atrial Fibrillation and Interventional Electrophysiology with AI generated artwork

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the world's most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia in adults.

37M

Number of AF patients worldwide.³

Prevalence increase by 2026.⁴

About Arial Fibrillation with AI generated artwork

The heart beats are generated by the sino-atrial node, a small tissue region in the right atrium. The propagation of impulses to both upper chambers of the heart – i.e the two atria – causes them to contract and move the blood to the lower chambers of the heart, a.k.a the ventricles.

AF is caused by abnormal electrical impulses forming anywhere in the atria. AF may be recorded on an electrocardiogram (ECG). The beating heart of AF patients is fast and irregular.
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Physicians classify AF according to the duration of arrhythmia episodes. Brief episodes correspond to paroxysmal AF. Longer episodes are known as persistent AF.

The treatment of AF may involve drug therapy, cardioversion, or a catheter ablation procedure.

About Interventional Electrophysiology graphic

Interventional electrophysiology is a surgical specialty. It requires multiple years of experience and consists of conducting intra-cardiac procedures to diagnose and treat cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation.

During the procedure, the electrophysiologist introduces catheters in the veins and convey them to the heart.
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These catheters are first used to measure electrical intracardiac signals and create precise 3D maps of the heart.

Then, the identified pathological regions (drivers) that are perpetuating the arrhythmia are ablated (with radiofrequency or cryoablation) in order to restore the normal sinus rhythm.