Doctors & patients are saying about 'A-Fib.com'...


"A-Fib.com is a great web site for patients, that is unequaled by anything else out there."

Dr. Douglas L. Packer, MD, FHRS, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

"Jill and I put you and your work in our prayers every night. What you do to help people through this [A-Fib] process is really incredible."

Jill and Steve Douglas, East Troy, WI 

“I really appreciate all the information on your website as it allows me to be a better informed patient and to know what questions to ask my EP. 

Faye Spencer, Boise, ID, April 2017

“I think your site has helped a lot of patients.”

Dr. Hugh G. Calkins, MD  Johns Hopkins,
Baltimore, MD


Doctors & patients are saying about 'Beat Your A-Fib'...


"If I had [your book] 10 years ago, it would have saved me 8 years of hell.”

Roy Salmon, Patient, A-Fib Free,
Adelaide, Australia

"This book is incredibly complete and easy-to-understand for anybody. I certainly recommend it for patients who want to know more about atrial fibrillation than what they will learn from doctors...."

Pierre Jaïs, M.D. Professor of Cardiology, Haut-Lévêque Hospital, Bordeaux, France

"Dear Steve, I saw a patient this morning with your book [in hand] and highlights throughout. She loves it and finds it very useful to help her in dealing with atrial fibrillation."

Dr. Wilber Su,
Cavanaugh Heart Center, 
Phoenix, AZ

"...masterful. You managed to combine an encyclopedic compilation of information with the simplicity of presentation that enhances the delivery of the information to the reader. This is not an easy thing to do, but you have been very, very successful at it."

Ira David Levin, heart patient, 
Rome, Italy

"Within the pages of Beat Your A-Fib, Dr. Steve Ryan, PhD, provides a comprehensive guide for persons seeking to find a cure for their Atrial Fibrillation."

Walter Kerwin, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA


2017 AF Symposium

Live Case: Ablation using CardioFocus Laser Balloon

Video clip: :16 sec view of pulmonary view opening during ablation with HeartLight System; from ‘Ablate What You See & See What You Ablate’.

Video streaming from Na Homolce Hospital in Prague, The Czech Republic. Drs. Peter Neuzil, Jan Petru and Jan Skoda, in their second live case, did an ablation using the CardioFocus HeartLight Endoscopic Visually Guided Laser Balloon (FDA approved April 4, 2016).

Direct Visualization

The doctors showed how they could directly see the Pulmonary Vein opening they were ablating (unlike RF and CryoBalloon systems).

The center of the catheter has an endoscopic (looking inside) camera. (To me, this is a major advantage and ground-breaking improvement for patients.) (Watch :13 video clip)

Laser Energy For Ablation

CardioFocus HeartLight Laser Balloon at A-Fib.com

CardioFocus HeartLight Laser Balloon

In the center of the catheter is an optical fiber which produces an arc of laser (near infrared) energy. When they applied this laser energy, it looked like a green flashing light that circled the PV.

The doctors said that watching this circulating green arc allowed them to visually see if they were making complete circular lesions of the PV.

They later used a regular Lasso catheter to check for ablation integrity.

Variable Diameter Compliant Balloon

The doctors also showed how the CardioFocus HeartLight system uses a variable diameter compliant balloon which can be sized to fit into a wide range of PV openings.

See our library of videos about Atrial Fibrillation

One preliminary research article suggested that the Laser Balloon system clinical outcomes were an improvement over CryoBalloon ablation. 

VIDEO ANIMATION: For a one-minute animation of how the CardioFocus HeartLight system works, see Visually Guided Ablation.

Editor’s Comments:
The CardioFocus HeartLight Laser Balloon catheter seems like a major advance in the treatment of A-Fib, To be able to look directly at the PV opening instead of using fluoroscopy, etc. should make an EP’s ablation task much easier and potentially more effective. And having a variable diameter compliant balloon is an added plus.
But when I talked with the CardioFocus rep at the AF Symposium exhibit hall, he said they were in the process of rolling out the Laser Balloon system to various centers. It may be a short while till the system is up and operational nationwide in the U.S. (It’s already in use in Europe.) We will try to list which centers use the Laser Balloon system.
If real world experience proves its effectiveness, the CardioFocus HeartLight Laser Balloon system may eventually make CryoBalloon ablation a secondary player.

Return to 2017 AF Symposium Reports
If you find any errors on this page, email us. Last updated: Sunday, February 12, 2017

Resources for this article
Dukkipati, S.R. et al. Pulmonary Vein Isolation Using the Visually Guided Laser Balloon, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Vol. 66, No. 12, 2015. http://www.cardiofocus.com/pdf/150922%20JACC-Dukkipati-HeartLight%20Pivotal%20Study.pdf

Bordignon, S. et al. Comparison of balloon catheter ablation techniques for pulmonary vein isolation: the laser versus cryo study. J. Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, 2013;24(9):987-94.

Related Posts

Follow Us
facebook - A-Fib.comtwitter - A-Fib.comlinkedin - A-Fib.compinterest - A-Fib.comYouTube: A-Fib Can be Cured! - A-Fib.com

We Need You Help A-Fib.com be self-supporting-Use our link to Amazon  

A-Fib.com is a
501(c)(3) Nonprofit



Your support is needed. Every donation helps, even just $1.00.



A-Fib.com top rated by Healthline.com since 2014 

Home | The A-Fib Coach | Help Support A-Fib.com | A-Fib News Archive | Tell Us What You think | Press Room | GuideStar Seal | HON certification | Disclosures | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy