2020 AF Symposium: Pulsed Field Ablation—A Game Changer for A-Fib
This year’s AF Symposium was abuzz about an emerging technology, Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA). It could change everything in the field of catheter ablation for Atrial Fibrillation.
Pulsed Field Ablation and how it works was presented by Dr. Vivek Reddy of Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY, NY. He also narrated a video showing an actual Pulsed Field Ablation procedure.
What is Pulsed Field Ablation? Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) from Farapulse, Inc. is a non-thermal energy system that uses a series of ultra-short electrical pulses to ablate heart tissue. This series of pulses, or the “waveform”, makes a long-lasting lesion in a manner of seconds compared with hours for radiofrequency.
More importantly, PFA works on the selected cell types while leaving others alone (like the esophagus).
Proximity Not Actual Contact: Unlike standard ablation energy sources such as RF (heat) and Cryo (freezing), the PFA catheter does not require actual physical contact but only needs proximity to the tissue to be ablated. And it doesn’t cause scarring or char formation. …click for full report on PFA.