Created by a panel of domestic and international Society member leaders, the AF 360 Guidelines will serve as a valuable practice tool for clinicians, hospitals, regulators and payers. The Society will launch a proactive program designed to accelerate awareness, understanding and adoption of clinical practice protocols among its member physicians and other clinicians who treat patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AF).

Expert Consensus Statement on Catheter and Surgical Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation

The Expert Consensus Statement on Catheter and Surgical Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation aims to improve patient care by providing physicians with a state-of-the-art review of catheter and surgical ablation for AF, the most common heart rhythm disorder and a rapidly growing health problem for more than three million Americans. Studies have found that only one quarter of patients with AF receive appropriate care.

The statement was released May 9, 2007 at Heart Rhythm 2007, the Heart Rhythm Society’s 28th Annual Scientific Sessions. “These guidelines are a major step toward helping physicians provide better, safer and more consistent care for heart patients worldwide,” said Hugh Calkins, MD, chair of the Heart Rhythm Society’s scientific and clinical guidelines committee and director of the arrhythmia service and electrophysiology laboratory at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Convened by Heart Rhythm Society, a Task Force of international heart rhythm specialists representing the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the European Heart Rhythm Association, the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and Heart Rhythm Society has developed guidelines to provide a foundation of current knowledge for medical personnel involved with catheter and surgical ablation of AF. The statement addresses the indications, techniques, training, and follow-up for patients undergoing these procedures.

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