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A 5-year clinical follow-up after duty-cycled phased RF ablation of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation

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Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Catheter radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an effective treatment for symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). It has been demonstrated that the multielectrode pulmonary vein ablation catheter (PVAC) has favourable outcomes at 6–12 months post-ablation, but there are only few studies with a long-term follow-up.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed 77 consecutive PVAC procedures in our centre, from November 2007 to December 2012. RFA was attempted in patients with symptomatic paroxysmal AF (mean age 58.7 ± 9.8 years, 50 men (64.9 %). The ablation strategy consisted of circumferential pulmonary vein isolation (CPVI) with the PVAC system. A questionnaire was used over the follow-up period to assess the efficacy of AF ablation. Success was defined as freedom from AF/atrial flutter or atrial arrhythmia for a period ranging from 3 to 12 months or more.

Results

Seventy-seven patients were included with paroxysmal AF. The mean duration of the procedure was 99.6 ± 26 min and fluoroscopy time 19.4 ± 6.8 min. Time of RFA was 22.4 ± 5.8 min. Acute complication rate was 10.4 % (the most frequent was vascular injury for 6 patients 7.8 %, 1 patient presented sepsis (1.3 %), 1 patient presented transient ischemic stroke). After a single procedure at a mean FU of 55 ± 11 months, 54/77 (70.1 %) patients were free of symptomatic AF.

Conclusions

These long-term results suggest that PVAC is an efficient system for CPVI of symptomatic paroxysmal AF.

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Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the ADREC team (Association Dyonisienne de Recherche et d’Enseignement Cardiologique) for its support in the preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Cardiologique du Nord, 32, rue des Moulins Gémeaux, 93200, Saint-Denis, France

    Antoine Lepillier, Xavier Copie, Gilles Lascault, Olivier Paziaud & Olivier Piot

Authors
  1. Antoine Lepillier
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  2. Xavier Copie
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  3. Gilles Lascault
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  4. Olivier Paziaud
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  5. Olivier Piot
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antoine Lepillier.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Condensed abstract

Radiofrequency ablation is efficient for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). The multielectrode ablation catheter (PVAC) should have favourable long-term outcomes. After a single procedure at a mean FU of 5 years, 70.1 % patients were free of symptomatic AF. These long-term results suggest that PVAC is efficient for paroxysmal AF.

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Lepillier, A., Copie, X., Lascault, G. et al. A 5-year clinical follow-up after duty-cycled phased RF ablation of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. J Interv Card Electrophysiol 48, 327–331 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-016-0199-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-016-0199-1

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