Focal Atrial Fibrillation: The Bordeaux Experience

Initial attempts at linear ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) indicated that creating continuous linear lesions to duplicate surgical atriotomies was difficult, that right atrial lesions alone were safe but ineffective, and that left atrial lesions improved success rates, although at a significant morbidity (including proarrhythmic left atrial reentry) and even mortality cost — but, most importantly perhaps, these studies showed the feasibility of cure by catheter-based techniques in patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF [1–3].