Summary and consensus of guidelines for cardiac mapping and ablation

Catheter ablation for both atrial and ventricular arrhythmias has become a mainstay of therapy. Mapping the electroanatomical substrate to facilitate effective ablation is of critical importance, and is addressed in the variety of consensus statements and society guidelines published on both atrial and ventricular ablation. Guidelines addressing ventricular arrhythmia ablation similarly endorse use of electroanatomical mapping systems, and on preprocedure delineation of anatomy and scar. As interest in catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) and ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTs) has grown, guidelines and consensus statements from a variety of cardiology governing bodies and professional societies have been developed to help inform operators of best clinical practices and recommendations. For VT ablation to succeed, careful assessment and mapping of cardiac electrical and anatomical properties is necessary as a means of identifying appropriate curative ablation targets.