Catheter Ablation of Long-Standing Persistent Atrial Fibrillation

American College of Cardiology Foundation: October 1, 2012

Year Outcomes of the Hamburg Sequential Ablation Strategy

This study describes the 5-year efficacy of catheter ablation for long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation (LS-AF).

Background  Long-term outcome data after catheter ablation for LS-AF are limited.

Methods  Long-term follow-up of 56 months (range 49 to 67 months) was performed in 202 patients (age 61 ± 9 years) who underwent the sequential ablation strategy for symptomatic LS-AF. Initial ablation strategy was circumferential pulmonary vein isolation (PVI). Additional ablation was performed only in acute PVI nonresponder, if direct current cardioversion failed after PVI. Read more