Hybrid Convergent Procedure with Proactive Esophageal Cooling for the
Treatment of Long-Standing Persistent Atrial Fibrillation
Abstract
The hybrid Convergent procedure is approved to treat symptomatic
patients with long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). Despite
direct visualization during surgical ablation as well as the use of
luminal esophageal temperature (LET) monitoring, esophageal injury is
still possible. A dedicated device for proactive esophageal cooling has
recently been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to
reduce the likelihood of ablation-related esophageal injury resulting
from radiofrequency cardiac ablation procedures. In this report, we
describe the first uses of proactive esophageal cooling for esophageal
protection during the epicardial ablation portion of hybrid convergent
procedures.