Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: still investigational or already an established therapy?

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Abstract
The multiple wavelet theory of Moe [1] , later supported by animal studies [2] , explaining that atrial fibrillation (AF) can only become established when more than a critical number of wavefronts coexist in the atrium, was a major step in our understanding of this complex and multifactorial disease. This concept is one of the cornerstones leading to the development of a successful antiarrhythmic approach to interrupt conduction in both atria, by creating a network of surgical lines, similar to a maze [3] . However, catheter-based maze procedures (in comparison with the surgical procedure), lacked efficacy and were associated with major complications such as stroke and pericardial effusion [4] .