Left atrial and pulmonary vein ostial ablation as a new treatment for curing persistent atrial fibrillation - Initial experience and results

Background Segmental pulmonary vein (PV) isolation has been performed to eliminate paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). However, this technique is not effective in most patients with persistent AF. Methods and Results Left atrial catheter ablation (LACA) was performed by encircling the left- and right-sided PV 1-2cm from the ostia, guided by an electroanatomical mapping system in 16 patients with persistent AF (> 1 month). Twelve patients (75%) had a history of unsuccessful transthoracic cardioversion and prophylactic antiarrhythmic drugs. Ablation lines were also created in the mitral isthmus and posterior LA. PV isolation was also performed for each PV if there were residual PV potentials after the LACA. After LACA, 38 PV (59%) were completely isolated, and complete PV isolation was achieved with only a few radiofrequency energy applications (2.7 +/- 2.0 min) on a narrow area of the PV ostium (24 +/- 15%) in the remaining PV. The mean procedure time was 200 38 min. During the follow-up period (17 +/- 3 months), 12 patients (75%) had normal sinus rhythm and were free of symptomatic AF with (n = 10) or without antiarrhythmic drugs (n = 2). One patient had a stroke just after the procedure. No other complications including PV narrowing (> 50%) occurred. Conclusion This approach was effective in persistent AF, however, concomitant use of antiarrhythinic drugs was often required.