The termination of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) during catheter ablation has been associated in some, but not all, studies with reduced arrhythmia during clinical follow-up. We sought to determine the rate of persistent AF termination achievable with a stepwise ablation strategy, the predictors of AF termination, and the clinical outcomes associated with termination and nontermination. A total of 143 consecutive patients (age 62 ± 9 years, AF duration 5.7 ± 5.2 years) with persistent and longstanding persistent AF resistant to antiarrhythmic medication who presented in AF for catheter ablation were studied. Ablation was done with a stepwise approach, including pulmonary vein isolation, followed by complex fractionated atrial electrogram ablation and ablation of resultant atrial tachycardias. Clinical follow-up was then performed after a 2-month blanking period to assess arrhythmia recurrence, defined as AF or atrial tachycardia lasting ≥ 30 seconds. AF termination by ablation was achieved in 95 (66%) of the 143 patients. Multivariate predictors of AF termination included longer baseline AF cycle length (p <0.001) and smaller left atrial size (p = 0.002). AF termination by ablation was associated with both a lower incidence of arrhythmia recurrence after a single procedure without antiarrhythmic drugs (p = 0.01) and overall clinical success (single or multiple procedures, with or without antiarrhythmic drugs; p = 0.005). On multivariate analysis, the predictors of overall clinical success included AF termination by ablation (p = 0.001), a shorter ablation duration (p = 0.002), younger age (p = 0.02), male gender (p = 0.03), and the presence of hypertension (p = 0.03). In conclusion, among patients with persistent AF, termination of AF by ablation can be achieved in most patients and is associated with reduced recurrence of arrhythmia.
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.