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Michael A. Borger
Friedrich W. Mohr
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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003;126:1662
© 2003 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Letters to the editor

Reply to the Editor

Nicolas Doll, MDa, Michael A. Borger, MD, PhDb, Friedrich W. Mohr, MD, PhDa

a Clinic for Heart Surgery, Heart Center, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
b Toronto General Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Gillinov and colleagues have commented on our article describing esophageal perforation following unipolar radiofrequency ablation of the left atrium. These authors from the Cleveland Clinic have a vast experience in atrial fibrillation ablation techniques and have also reported esophageal injury following unipolar radiofrequency ablation. Although esophageal perforation is an uncommon complication of this procedure, it is also a very serious and potentially lethal one.

We agree with the authors that bipolar and epicardial radiofrequency ablation are promising techniques that may eliminate the possibility of esophageal injury. However, these procedures may carry an increased risk of circumflex artery or coronary sinus injury when creating the lesion line down to the mitral annulus. Ultrasound ablation is another promising technique but very little clinical data is available at this time.

Atrial fibrillation ablation surgery is an area of intense research and marketing activity at this time. We completely agree that the honest reporting of favorable and unfavorable results will ultimately determine which treatment modality is the most safe and effective.


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Gary L. Grunkemeier and YingXing Wu
J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2003 126: 1661. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Esophageal perforation during left atrial radiofrequency ablation: is the risk too high?
A. Marc Gillinov, Patrick M. McCarthy, Gosta Pettersson, Bruce W. Lytle, and Thomas W. Rice
J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2003 126: 1661-1662. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Reply to the Editor
Nicolas Doll, Michael A. Borger, and Friedrich W. Mohr
J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2003 126: 1663. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]




This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
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Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
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Right arrow Author home page(s):
Nicolas Doll
Michael A. Borger
Friedrich W. Mohr
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Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Doll, N.
Right arrow Articles by Mohr, F. W.
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PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Doll, N.
Right arrow Articles by Mohr, F. W.
Related Collections
Right arrow Electrophysiology - arrhythmias
Right arrowRelated Articles

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