Ectopic Triggers of Superior Vena Cava in Atrial Fibrillation

Citation :Jayasree Pillarisetti, Wallace Ray, Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy.Ectopic Triggers of Superior Vena Cava in Atrial Fibrillation .JAFIB.2009 April;Volume 1 Issue(6): 363-365.

Superior vena cava (SVC) triggers constitute 6-8% of non-pulmonary vein (PV) foci that initiate atrial fibrillation (AF). Since SVC cardiomyocytes originate from the right sinus horn they possess enhanced automacity and after-depolarization leading to arrhythmogenicity. In a recent study by Arruda et al. 12% of patients had SVC triggers and empiric adjunctive isolation of SVC-right atrium (RA) along with PV isolation resulted in higher long term success rate than the group that underwent PVI alone. They demonstrated that adjunctive isolation of SVC along with PVI is a safe and feasible strategy for ablation of AF.