Arrhythmias and Conduction DisturbancesComparison of Pulmonary Vein Isolation Using Cryoballoon Versus Conventional Radiofrequency for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation
Section snippets
Methods
From January 2008 to December 2011, all consecutive patients who underwent PV isolation as the index procedure by RF ablation or CB ablation at our department for documented symptomatic paroxysmal AF were taken into consideration for our retrospective analysis. In all procedures, the acute end point was the achievement of electrical PV isolation in all veins. Paroxysmal AF was defined as self-terminating AF episodes lasting <7 days as per guidelines. Exclusion criteria were repeat procedures
Results
In a larger series of patients, 426 consecutive patients who underwent PV isolation for paroxysmal AF as the index procedure were taken into consideration. Of these patients, 10 were excluded for impossibility to retrieve information about their follow-up, 18 because of first-line treatment, and 2 because of the occurrence of an acute complication impeding procedure termination. A total of 396 patients (279 men, 58 ± 13.3 years) were finally considered in our analysis. All patients were
Discussion
To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest study comparing conventional point-by-point RF ablation and CB ablation. The main findings of the study are that (1) no differences in terms of long-term success rates were found between RF and CB groups at a mean follow-up of 2 years, (2) CB procedures were significantly shorter, (3) periprocedural complication rates were similar in both groups, and (4) no baseline clinical characteristics appeared to predict AF recurrence.
The follow-up of 23 ±
Disclosures
Drs. Chierchia and Asmundis receive compensation for teaching purposes from AF solutions, Medtronic (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Dr. Chierchia receives compensation for proctoring purposes from AF solutions, Medtronic.
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