Dear Colleagues,

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia diagnosed in clinical practice. The prevalence of AF has been increasing with the worldwide aging of society. Although AF is not a life-threatening arrhythmia, it can reduce the quality of life. Catheter ablation of AF has been established as a curative therapy and is increasingly being performed to improve the quality of life.

Most AF triggers were demonstrated more than 2 decades ago to be located in the pulmonary veins. Since then, pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) has been the cornerstone of catheter ablation of AF. However, electrical reconnection of the pulmonary veins is the most common cause of AF recurrence after PVI. Moreover, PVI alone cannot cure AF in patients with AF triggers that are outside of the pulmonary veins (extra-pulmonary vein foci), and substrates that can perpetuate AF. Multiple goals must first be achieved in order to improve the outcome of catheter ablation of AF. These include durable PVI, elimination of extra-pulmonary vein foci, and modification of the substrate perpetuating AF. To help achieve these goals, there have recently been remarkable advances in technology, equipment, and techniques for catheter ablation of AF. This Special Issue will collect high-quality original research papers and comprehensive reviews on recent advances in catheter ablation of AF. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Balloon technologies
• High power short duration radiofrequency ablation
• Pulse field ablation
• Lesion formation
• Lesion assessment
• High-resolution mapping

Prof. Takumi Yamada
Guest Editor