Atrial fibrillation ablation in patients with known sludge in the left atrial appendage

Purpose Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is routinely used to assess for thrombus in the left atrium (LA) and left atrial appendage (LAA) in patients undergoing atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. However, little is known about the outcome of AF ablation in patients with documented LAA sludge. We hypothesize that AF ablation can be performed safely in a proportion of patients with sludge in the LAA and may have a significant benefit for these patients.