Does atrioventricular junction ablation and VVIR pacemaker improve symptoms compared to pharmacological treatment in patients with heart failure and chronic atrial fibrillation?
AV junction ablation with VVIR pacemaker implantation improves symptom control compared to medical therapy in patients with heart failure and chronic AF, though it does not modify cardiac performance.
In patients with heart failure and chronic AF, Abl+Pm treatment is effective and superior to drug therapy in controlling symptoms, although its efficacy appears to be less than that observed in uncontrolled studies because some improvement can also be expected in medically treated patients. Cardiac performance is not modified by the treatment.
Brignole et al. (1998) studied this question.