Cryoballoon Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation in Octogenarians

A significant proportion of AF patients with advanced age are being treated in clinical practice. Cryoballoon ablation of AF, given its shorter procedure time and comparable efficacy to radiofrequency ablation, has rapidly become a commonly used tool for AF ablation. Data regarding the outcomes of cryoballoon ablation of AF in octogenarians are limited because of the exclusion of this age group in the previous studies. The authors report outcomes of 15 octogenarian AF patients undergoing index cryoballoon ablation at a single centre. The mean age of the included patients was 83 ± 3 years. In total, 13 patients (87%) presented with paroxysmal AF, and two (13%) had long-standing persistent AF. At 6 and 12 months of follow-up, freedom from AF was 80% and 70%, respectively. None of the patients suffered any procedure-related complications. Cryoballoon ablation appears to be a safe and effective approach for treating symptomatic AF refractory to antiarrhythmic drug therapy in octogenarian patients, based on outcomes in this cohort. These findings require further validation in prospective randomised studies with larger sample sizes.