In Persistent A-Fib? Time Matters: Ablate Sooner for Better Outcomes
Note: This research study is important if you have Persistent A-Fib or your Paroxysmal A-Fib has progressed to Persistent A-Fib.
The Cost of Waiting to Ablate
In patients with persistent atrial fibrillation undergoing ablation, the time interval between the first diagnosis of persistent A-Fib and the catheter ablation procedure had a strong association with the ablation outcomes.
Cleveland Clinic researchers found that shorter diagnosis-to-ablation time spans were associated with better outcomes. Longer diagnosis-to-ablation times was associated with a greater degree of atrial remodeling.
According to electrophysiologist Dr. Oussama Wazni, “once the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation is made, it’s important not to spend too much time trying to keep a patient in normal rhythm with medical [drug] therapy” before referring for radio-frequency ablation.” Dr. Wazni is Co-Director of the Center for Atrial Fibrillation at the Cleveland Clinic.
His comments are based on the published analysis of two-year outcomes among 1,241 consecutive patients undergoing first-time ablation of persistent atrial fibrillation over an eight-year period at Cleveland Clinic. All patients had successful isolation of all 4 PVs (pulmonary veins), and the superior vena cava was isolated in 69.6%. In addition, Left Atrium ablations (including complex fractionated electrograms) were performed in 65.6% of patients.
First Diagnosis-to-Ablation Time Span: The Shorter the Better
Importantly, the first diagnosis-to-ablation time interval (of persistent A-Fib) had a stronger impact on outcomes than the time spent with a paroxysmal A-Fib diagnosis or the duration of continuous A-Fib before the ablation procedure.
The analysis was published in the Jan. 2016 issue of Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. (Read online or download as a PDF.)