pace and ablate

What is the "pace and ablate" strategy?

Sometimes, control of the atrial fibrillation with tachycardia by medication is impossible, due to the overwhelming bradycardiac effect of antiarrhythmic agents. In addition to the performance of invasive procedures, the disorder can be controlled using pacemaker implantation and the prescription of medication to lower the heart rate. In extreme cases, a "pace-and-ablate" approach (involving the complete ablation of the AV-node and implantation of a pacemaker) may be considered.