Long Term Follow-up of Pulmonary Vein Isolation Using Cryoballoon Ablation

BackgroundCryoballoon ablation is an established catheter-based approach to treating atrial fibrillation (AF). There is little data regarding the long-term efficacy of this approach.MethodsWe enrolled 200 consecutive patients with symptomatic AF who had failed therapy with at least one anti-arrhythmic medication and followed them for five years. The primary efficacy endpoint was symptomatic recurrence of AF after a single cryoballoon ablation procedure.ResultsTwo hundred patients formed the study group. Median follow-up was 56 months. Following a single procedure, 46.7% of patients with paroxysmal AF remained free of symptomatic recurrence of AF compared to 35.6% of patients with persistent AF. When allowing for repeat ablations, at the end of the follow-up period 53.3% of patients in the paroxysmal group remained free of symptomatic AF compared to 47.5% in the persistent group. The rate of complications was low.ConclusionsCryoballoon ablation is an effective catheter-based approach for treating symptomatic AF with a low risk of complications.