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2024 AF Symposium: Two More A-Fib Reports About Benefits of Ablation
“The Benefits of Ablation Across the AF Spectrum: From Early Intervention to Late-Stage Heart Failure,” the Friday morning session of the 2024 Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Symposium (February 3, 2024), featured five speakers. Below is the third and fourth talks of this session. (For the earlier reports, see 2024 AF Symposium My Summary Reports.)
The Friday morning session of the 2024 Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Symposium, February 3, 2024, featured five speakers. These are the third and fourth talks in this session. (For the first two reports, see 2024 Symposium My Summary Reports.)
AF Ablation in Patients with Advanced Heart Failure: CASTLE-HTx Study
Dr. Philipp Sommer
Dr. Philipp Sommer of the University of Bochum, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, gave the third talk in what was described as the “most important session of the whole meeting.”
Dr. Sommer’s presentation could be considered a continuation of or an addition to the CASTLE-AF trial discussed in the 2018 AF Symposium.
As I wrote then, “the findings of the CASTLE AF clinical trial are one of the most important studies for patients in the last decade.” (See Live Longer―Have a Catheter Ablation.)
“If you look at the lectures [in this session], every one of them is Guideline changing This is the most important session of the whole [Symposium] meeting.”—Dr. Nassir Marrouche
All A-Fib patients in CASTLE AF had sick hearts and advanced heart failure (their ejection fractions were less than 35%). They all had ICDs (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators).
Patients received either RF catheter ablation or conventional drug therapy. The median follow-up was over 3 years (37.8 months). …Continue reading my report> go of Dr. Sommer’s talk.
AF Ablation in Patients with Heart Failure and Preserved Ejection Fraction
Dr. Douglas Packer
Dr. Douglas Packer of the Intermountain Institute, Murray, UT, gave the fourth talk in what was described as the “most important session of the whole meeting,”
Background: Heart Failure is when the heart ‘fails’ to pump enough blood to the other organs to satisfy their need for oxygen and nutrients. Ejection Fraction (EF) measures how well your heart is pumping, Normal EF is around 50%–75%.
5–6 Million in the U.S. Have Heart Failure
Dr. Packer began with a disturbing statistic. In the U.S. 5–6 million people have heart failure. He distinguished between 2 types of heart failure:
• Heart failure with “preserved” or minimally reduced ejection fraction [>50%] (HFpEF);
• Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction [<50%] (HFrEF).
Comparing Preserved EF vs. Reduced EF …Continue reading my report> go of Dr. Packer’s talk.
More of my reports are coming next week To read earlier reports, see 2024 Symposium My Summary Reports
