Doctors & patients are saying about 'A-Fib.com'...


"A-Fib.com is a great web site for patients, that is unequaled by anything else out there."

Dr. Douglas L. Packer, MD, FHRS, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

"Jill and I put you and your work in our prayers every night. What you do to help people through this [A-Fib] process is really incredible."

Jill and Steve Douglas, East Troy, WI 

“I really appreciate all the information on your website as it allows me to be a better informed patient and to know what questions to ask my EP. 

Faye Spencer, Boise, ID, April 2017

“I think your site has helped a lot of patients.”

Dr. Hugh G. Calkins, MD  Johns Hopkins,
Baltimore, MD


Doctors & patients are saying about 'Beat Your A-Fib'...


"If I had [your book] 10 years ago, it would have saved me 8 years of hell.”

Roy Salmon, Patient, A-Fib Free,
Adelaide, Australia

"This book is incredibly complete and easy-to-understand for anybody. I certainly recommend it for patients who want to know more about atrial fibrillation than what they will learn from doctors...."

Pierre Jaïs, M.D. Professor of Cardiology, Haut-Lévêque Hospital, Bordeaux, France

"Dear Steve, I saw a patient this morning with your book [in hand] and highlights throughout. She loves it and finds it very useful to help her in dealing with atrial fibrillation."

Dr. Wilber Su,
Cavanaugh Heart Center, 
Phoenix, AZ

"...masterful. You managed to combine an encyclopedic compilation of information with the simplicity of presentation that enhances the delivery of the information to the reader. This is not an easy thing to do, but you have been very, very successful at it."

Ira David Levin, heart patient, 
Rome, Italy

"Within the pages of Beat Your A-Fib, Dr. Steve Ryan, PhD, provides a comprehensive guide for persons seeking to find a cure for their Atrial Fibrillation."

Walter Kerwin, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA


2021 AF Symposium

Another Study Finds Ablation Better First-Line Treatment Than Medication

To date there have been many research studies demonstrating the superiority of ablation versus drug therapy for A-Fib.

Dr. Jason Andrade

EARLY-AF is a Canadian study of CyroBalloon ablation by lead author Dr. Jason Andrade of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine and colleagues. According to study researchers, CryoBalloon ablation “is a more effective first-line treatment for (A-Fib) patients than medication.” (The full name of the EARLY-AF study is “Early Aggressive Invasive Intervention for Atrial Fibrillation”.)

Cryoballoon ablation was better at preventing symptoms of A-Fib from recurring at all, and reduced the amount of time some patients experienced A-Fib.

The Study: CryoBalloon Ablation Halved Rate of Recurrence vs. Drugs

All 303 patients were treated for A-Fib for the first time in their lives. Half were randomized to receive CryoBalloon ablation (Medtronic Arctic Front Advance), while the other half were treated with antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) (flecainide, sotalol, propafenone, or dronedarone). (Flecainide was the most frequently prescribed.) All patients received an implantable loop recorder (Medtronic Reveal LINQ) which allowed for continuous monitoring and the assessment of atrial fibrillation burden. .

Of the Cryo-Balloon group, 57.1% didn’t have a recurrence of some form of an irregular heartbeat by the one-year mark [not as high a success rate compared to other studies]. While the success rate of the AAD group was only 32.2%. Less than one-third of patients were in sinus rhythm within a year.

CryoBalloon ablation halved the rate of recurrence compared to usual drug therapy.

Additional Benefit: CryoBalloon Ablation Improved Quality-Of-Life

Ablation outperformed the drug group in terms of quality-of-life improvement. Eighty-nine per cent of CryoBalloon patients were free of symptomatic arrhythmia episodes.

According to Dr. Andrade, “Patients who received cryoballoon ablation were more likely to be symptom-free and not require hospitalization for their atrial fibrillation.”

Editor’s Comments

Choose Ablation Over Drugs: Dr. Andrade states explicitly that A-Fib patients should think of catheter ablation as first-line therapy, not something you do after trying multiple antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs).
This is in accordance with current best practices i.e., Guidelines for the Management of Patients with Atrial Fibrillation. AADs don’t work half as well as catheter ablation. In the real world, AADs are ineffective, cause bad side effect, or lose what effectiveness they had over time. And while you’re wasting a year or two trying various AADs, you’re usually still miserable in A-Fib and your A-Fib has gotten worse (remodeling).
Catheter Ablation Transforms Your Life: An A-Fib attack can totally incapacitate you. Even mild to moderate A-Fib can make you feel unwell, produces shortness of breath, brain fog, etc. You may be unable or reluctant to pursue normal activities like traveling and exercise. And you often live in fear of the next A-Fib attack. Or you’re angry and frustrated at your out-of-control heart.
A catheter ablation can change all that.

There are few medical procedures so transformative and life changing as a successful catheter ablation. Ask any former A-Fib patient who is now A-Fib free.

Resources for this article

• A procedure, not medication, may be a more effective first-line of treatment for common heart rhythm problem. UBC Faculty of Medicine, November 24, 2020. https://www.med.ubc.ca/news/a-procedure-not-medication-may-be-a-more-effective-first-line-of-treatment-for-common-heart-rhythm-problem/

• Minimally invasive procedure beats meds for atrial fibrillation. Bottom Line Personal, Volume 42, Number 8, April 15, 2021.

• Andrade, J. et al. Cryoablation or Drug Therapy for Initial Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation. The New England Journal of Medicine, January 28, 2021, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2029980. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2029980.

f you find any errors on this page, email us. Y Last updated: Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Return to 2021 AF Symposium Reports

Related Posts

Follow Us
facebook - A-Fib.comtwitter - A-Fib.comlinkedin - A-Fib.compinterest - A-Fib.comYouTube: A-Fib Can be Cured! - A-Fib.com

We Need You Help A-Fib.com be self-supporting-Use our link to Amazon  

A-Fib.com is a
501(c)(3) Nonprofit



Your support is needed. Every donation helps, even just $1.00.



A-Fib.com top rated by Healthline.com since 2014 

Home | The A-Fib Coach | Help Support A-Fib.com | A-Fib News Archive | Tell Us What You think | Press Room | GuideStar Seal | HON certification | Disclosures | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy