HRS/EHRA/ECAS Expert Consensus Statement on Catheter and Surgical Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation: Recommendations for Personnel, Policy, Procedures and Follow-Up

A report of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) Task Force on Catheter and Surgical Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation Developed in partnership with the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) and the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society (ECAS); in collaboration with the American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association (AHA), and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). Endorsed and Approved by the governing bodies of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society, the European Heart Rhythm Association, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the Heart Rhythm Society.

Calkins, Hugh MD, FHRS
Brugada, Josep MD, FESC, Co-Chair, EHRA representative
Packer, Douglas L. MD, FHRS
Cappato, Riccardo MD, FESC, ECAS representative
Chen, Shih-Ann MD, FHRS
Crijns, Harry J.G. MD, PhD, FESC
Damiano, Ralph J. Jr MD
Davies, D. Wyn MD, FHRS
Haines, David E. MD, FHRS, Chair
Haissaguerre, Michel MD
Iesaka, Yoshito MD
Jackman, Warren M. MD, FHRS
Jais, Pierre MD
Kottkamp, Hans MD
Kuck, Karl Heinz MD, FESC
Lindsay, Bruce D. MD, FHRS, AHA representative
Marchlinski, Francis E. MD
McCarthy, Patrick M. MD, STS representative
Mont, J. Lluis MD, FESC
Morady, Fred MD
Nademanee, Koonlawee MD
Natale, Andrea MD, FHRS, ACC representative
Pappone, Carlo MD, PhD
Prystowsky, Eric N. MD, FHRS
Raviele, Antonio MD, FESC
Ruskin, Jeremy N. MD
Shemin, Richard J. MD

¹Johns Hopkins Hospital, Maryland, USA
²Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, Spain
³Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan
⁴The Care Group, LLC, Indiana, USA
⁵Allgemeines Krankenhaus St. Georg, Hamburg, Germany
⁶Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, USA
⁷William Beaumont Hospital, Michigan, USA
⁸Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, USA
⁹St. Mary's Hospital, London, England
¹⁰Washington University School of Medicine, Missouri, USA
¹¹Feinberg School of Medicine, Illinois, USA
¹²Mayo Foundation, Minnesota, USA
¹³Arrhythmia and EP Center, Milan, Italy
¹⁴University Hospital Maastricht, The Netherlands
¹⁵Université De Bordeaux, Hôpital Cardiologique, France
¹⁶University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, USA
¹⁷Tsuchiura Kyodo Hospital, Japan
¹⁸Clinic Hirslanden Zurich, Switzerland
¹⁹FESC Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, Spain
²⁰University of Michigan Hospital, USA
²¹Pacific Rim EP Research Institute Center, California, USA
²²Hospital San Raffaele, Milano, Italy
²³Umberto I Hospital, Venice, Italy
²⁴Massachusetts General Hospital, USA
²⁵David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, California, USA

The content of these European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines has been published for personal and educational use only. No commercial use is authorized. No part of the ESC Guidelines may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from the ESC. Permission can be obtained upon submission of a written request to Oxford University Press, the publisher of the European Heart Journal and the party authorized to handle such permissions on behalf of the ESC.

Disclaimer. The ESC Guidelines represent the views of the ESC and were arrived at after careful consideration of the available evidence at the time they were written. Health professionals are encouraged to take them fully into account when exercising their clinical judgement. The guidelines do not, however, override the individual responsibility of health professionals to make appropriate decisions in the circumstances of the individual patients, in consultation with that patient, and where appropriate and necessary the patient's guardian or carer. It is also the health professional's responsibility to verify the rules and regulations applicable to drugs and devices at the time of prescription.

Europace 9(6):p 335-379, June 2007.