Catheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias

In humans, the normal resting heart rate is 50-90 beats per minute (bpm); most average healthy individuals have resting rates in the 60-70 bpm range. Bradycardia (slow heartbeat) is a term used to refer to any heart rate <60 bpm, and tachycardia (fast heartbeat) indicates rates >100 bpm. Disturbances of cardiac impulse formations and/or transmissions will comprise these principal mechanisms which in turn cause abnormalities of heart rhythm. Broadly, these are classified as being either brady- or tachy-arrhythmias. The primary goals for the treatment of arrhythmias are (1) to alleviate associated clinical symptoms and thus improve an individual's quality of life and (2) to prolong a patient's survival. Pharmacologic treatments used to be the mainstay for the management of most cardiac arrhythmias; however, currently implantable devices and ablation therapies have become the first line of therapy for many identified arrhythmias. In this chapter, we review the most common arrhythmias and their respective managements, with a focus on ablation therapy techniques and technology.