{"id":5847,"date":"2011-01-05T15:24:36","date_gmt":"2011-01-05T20:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/?p=5847"},"modified":"2011-07-19T17:44:39","modified_gmt":"2011-07-19T21:44:39","slug":"study-finds-mixed-long-term-results-for-af-catheter-ablation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/2011\/01\/05\/study-finds-mixed-long-term-results-for-af-catheter-ablation\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Finds Mixed Long-Term Results for AF Catheter Ablation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Long-term results after catheter ablation for AF are decidedly mixed, according to the longest study yet to follow patients after the procedure. In<a href=\"http:\/\/content.onlinejacc.org\/cgi\/content\/abstract\/57\/2\/160\"> a report in the <\/a><em><a href=\"http:\/\/content.onlinejacc.org\/cgi\/content\/abstract\/57\/2\/160\">Journal of the American College of Cardiology<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Rukshen\u00a0Weerasooriya\u00a0and colleagues followed 100 patients treated at a French hospital for 5 years. After a single procedure, the rates of arrhythmia-free survival were 40% at 1 year, 37% at 2 years, and 29% at 5 years. Patients underwent a median of 2 procedures during the study period. Following the last catheter ablation procedure, the rates of arrhythmia-free survival were 87% at 1 year, 81% at 2 years, and 63% at 5 years. Three patients had cardiac tamponade requiring drainage during the procedure. Patients with long-standing persistent AF were more likely to have a recurrence than other patients.<\/p>\n<p>Results in the real world may be even worse than those reported in the study since, the authors noted, their &#8220;study population was not representative of patients with AF at large, as it consisted predominantly of younger, healthier,\u00a0nonobese\u00a0patients with relatively smaller atria and paroxysmal or recent progression to persistent AF.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The authors concluded: &#8220;Although most recurrences transpire over the first 6 to 12 months, a slow but steady decline in arrhythmia-free survival is noted thereafter, even after 3 or more years of apparent arrhythmia control. Such long-term follow-up data should be openly discussed with patients, factored into management decisions, and incorporated into cost-effectiveness models that assess the merits of an ablation approach.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long-term results after catheter ablation for AF are decidedly mixed, according to the longest study yet to follow patients after the procedure. In a report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology,\u00a0Rukshen\u00a0Weerasooriya\u00a0and colleagues followed 100 patients treated at a French hospital for 5 years. After a single procedure, the rates of arrhythmia-free survival [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[365,641,642],"class_list":["post-5847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-electrophysiology","tag-af","tag-af-ablation","tag-catheter-ablation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}