Atrioesophageal Fistula Complicating Cryoballoon Pulmonary Vein Isolation for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

Abstract

Although atrioesophageal fistula (AEF) formation is a well known, albeit rare, catastrophic complication of atrial fibrillation radiofrequency ablation procedures, there are less data regarding this complication using the cryoballoon technique. We report on 3 cases of AEF as a complication of cryoballoon pulmonary vein isolation at 3 different institutions with 2 different generations of cryoballoons.