High prevalence of incidental endoscopic findings at routine endoscopy after atrial fibrillation ablation: Do we need a screening endoscopy for the upper gastrointestinal tract in the general population?

HPSD ablation is safe, no devasting complication occurred in any patient. It resulted in 19.6% ablation-induced thermal injury whereas incidental findings of the upper GI tract were found in 48.3% of patients. Due to the high prevalence of 14.7% of findings requiring further diagnostics, therapy, or surveillance in a cohort that is mimicking the general population, screening endoscopy of the upper GI tract seems to be reasonable in the general population.