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Renal Denervation for Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

  • Invasive Electrophysiology and Pacing (E. Kevin Heist, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

During the last decade, several case series and small reports have indicated that pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) in combination with renal denervation (RDN) may increase the rate of atrial fibrillation (AF) freedom in patients with hypertension. We aimed to provide a contemporary systematic overview on the techniques, and the efficacy/safety of RDN on AF recurrence, and the current landscape of ongoing investigation.

Recent Findings

The recent Evaluate Renal Denervation in Addition to Catheter Ablation to Eliminate Atrial Fibrillation (ERADICATE-AF) trial has demonstrated convincingly that among patients with paroxysmal AF and poorly controlled (but not “resistant”) hypertension, RDN added to catheter ablation, compared with catheter ablation alone, significantly increased the likelihood of freedom from AF at 12 months.

Summary

RDN has proven to be a unique, effective and safe interventional therapy for the management of AF. Future investigation will likely focus on confirming current findings; expanding the population of eligible patients (eg., non-hypertensives, well controlled hypertensives); determining long-term maintenance of effect and therapeutics.

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Correspondence to Jonathan S. Steinberg.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Arwa Younis declares no conflict of interest.

Jonathan S. Steinberg reports: Consultant for Medtronic, National Cardiac, Allergan, Atricure, Corfigo, Braveheart, Hillrom; equity in National Cardiac, AliveCor, Braveheart; and research support from the National Institutes of Health and Medtronic.

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Younis, A., Steinberg, J.S. Renal Denervation for Patients With Atrial Fibrillation. Curr Cardiol Rep 23, 126 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-021-01558-4

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