First report of phrenic nerve injury during pulmonary vein isolation using the Ablation Frontiers pulmonary vein ablation catheter.

In an attempt to improve procedural outcomes and reduce time and complications, there has been particular interest in alternative technologies specifically designed for atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. One novel technique is isolation of the pulmonary veins using an over-the-wire multielectrode catheter delivering duty-cycled bipolar and unipolar radiofrequency energy. Phrenic nerve injury is a rare but significant complication of AF ablation. This is the first report of phrenic nerve injury following catheter ablation for AF using the Pulmonary Vein Ablation Catheter (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN, USA).