Hybrid atrial fibrillation ablation resulted in a 3-year freedom from arrhythmia without antiarrhythmic drugs or redo ablation of 80% in paroxysmal AF and 79% in non-paroxysmal AF.
Cohort (n=64)
Does single-step hybrid atrial fibrillation ablation provide long-term arrhythmia-free survival in patients with paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation?
Single-step hybrid ablation for atrial fibrillation demonstrates high and sustained 3-year arrhythmia-free survival (~80%) without the need for antiarrhythmic drugs or redo procedures in both paroxysmal and persistent AF patients.
OBJECTIVES: The single-step hybrid atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation procedure combines a transvenous endocardial and thoracoscopic epicardial approach in 1 procedure. Short-term results are encouraging, but long-term outcome data are not available. METHODS: Hybrid AF ablation was successfully performed in 64 consecutive patients (53% with persistent AF). The mean follow-up period was 1732 ± 353 days. Perprocedural endocardial touch-up of incomplete epicardial lesions was performed in 17 (26%) patients. RESULTS: In paroxysmal AF patients, arrhythmia-free cumulative survival rates after 1 hybrid AF ablation without Class I or III antiarrhythmic drugs procedure and without redo catheter ablation were 83%, 80% and 80% after 1, 2 and 3 years, respectively. In (long-standing) persistent AF patients, these were 82%, 79% and 79% after 1, 2 and 3 years. Thirteen (20%) patients had at least 1 recurrent episode of supraventricular arrhythmia lasting longer than 30 s: the most frequent recurrent arrhythmias were left atrial flutter and AF. No mortality or conversion to cardiopulmonary bypass, no phrenic nerve palsy and no pacemaker implantation were reported. CONCLUSIONS: Hybrid AF ablation, combining a transvenous endocardial and thoracoscopic epicardial approach in a single procedure, results in a cumulative 3-year freedom from arrhythmia without Class I or III antiarrhythmic drugs and without redo catheter ablation of 80% in paroxysmal AF (24 of 30 patients) and 79% in non-paroxysmal AF (26 of 33 patients).
Maesen et al. (Fri,) conducted a cohort in Atrial fibrillation (n=64). Hybrid atrial fibrillation ablation was evaluated on Cumulative 3-year freedom from arrhythmia without Class I or III antiarrhythmic drugs and without redo catheter ablation. Hybrid atrial fibrillation ablation resulted in a 3-year freedom from arrhythmia without antiarrhythmic drugs or redo ablation of 80% in paroxysmal AF and 79% in non-paroxysmal AF.