Procedural Feasibility and Long-Term Efficacy of Catheter Ablation of Atypical Atrial Flutters in a Wide Spectrum of Heart Diseases: An Updated Clinical Overview

Atypical atrial flutters (AAFL) are difficult-to-manage atrial arrhythmias, yet potentially amenable to effective radiofrequency catheter ablation (CA). However, data on CA feasibility are only sparingly reported in the literature in different clinical settings, such as AAFL related to surgical correction of congenital heart disease. The aim of this review was to provide an overview of the clinical settings in which AAFL may occur to help the cardiac electrophysiologist in the prediction of the tachycardia circuit location before CA. Moreover, the role and proper implementation of cutting-edge technologies in this setting were investigated as well as which procedural and clinical factors are associated with long-term failure to maintain sinus rhythm (SR) to find out which patients may, or may not, benefit from this procedure. Not only different surgical and non-surgical scenarios are associated with peculiar anatomical location of AAFL, but we also found that CA of AAFL is generally feasible. The success rate may be as low as 50% in surgically corrected congenital heart disease (CHD) patients but up to about 90% on average after pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) or in patients without structural heart disease. Over the years, the progressive implementation of three-dimensional mapping systems and high-density mapping tools has also proved helpful for ablation of these macro-reentrant circuits. However, the long-term maintenance of SR may still be suboptimal due to the progressive electroanatomic atrial remodeling occurring after cardiac surgery or other interventional procedures, thus limiting the likelihood of successful ablation in specific clinical settings.

Automated summary

This review provides an overview of the clinical settings in which atypical atrial flutters (AAFL) may occur and aims to predict the location of tachycardia circuits before radiofrequency catheter ablation (CA). The study finds that CA of AAFL is generally feasible, but the long-term success rate may be lower in specific clinical settings.