Blessberger Hermann, Kammler Jürgen, Wichert-Schmitt Barbara, Steinwender Clemens
Department of Internal Medicine I, Cardiology, Linz General Hospital, Linz, Austria; University-affiliated Teaching Hospital of the Medical Universities of Vienna and Innsbruck.
J Electrocardiol. 2013 Nov-Dec;46(6):649-52. doi: 10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2013.07.015. Epub 2013 Aug 20.
Left atrial catheter ablation (LACA) is routinely used in the management of recurrent atrial fibrillation.
We report a patient suffering from vasospastic angina 2 months after a LACA procedure. Typical clinical symptoms, ST-segment changes during exercise test and successful treatment with nicorandil led to the diagnosis. According to our hypothesis, destruction of autonomic ganglia in the left atrium and resulting autonomic nerve tone imbalance might be the main determinants that have caused this phenomenon.
Coronary spasms even weeks after LACA should draw attention to a possible association with the procedure.
