Extensive pulmonary venous stenoses as a complication of radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation.

ABSTRACT

Although pulmonary veins stenosis (PVS) is a well documented complication of radiofrequency-catheter ablation (RFCA) of atrial fibrillation (AF), simultaneous involvement of multiple PVs is extremely rare. We present the case of a 69 years-old male patient, with prior medical history of persistent AF, who had been treated with RFCA two years ago. After RFCA, he started with shortness of breath and needed hospitalization for bilateral pneumonia. One year after the procedure, he was on home oxygen, but still referred dyspnea, cough and hemoptysis. A transthoracic echocardiogram showed moderate right ventricular (RV) systolic dysfunction and elevated RV systolic pressure. Dedicated cardiac tomography for PV assessment revealed severe narrowing and pre-stenotic engorgement of all 5 PVs, with subtotal ostial occlusion of both the left lower and right middle PVs. PV angiography confirmed the diagnosis. Only the left and right upper PV were able to be wire-crossed and stented, with substantial reductions in stenosis from 90 % to 10 %. After 3 months of follow-up, the patient improved substantially, and home O2 was withdrawn.