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Conclusions: XIENCE TM stents are readily useable, even for complex lesions, with a high likelihood of success and low complication rate.Introduction: Electrical cardioversion is a frequently used modality to achieve sinus rhythm from atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the variables which predict the likelihood of cardioversion success are incompletely defined. In particular, it is not known whether AF cycle length (AFCL) and/or dominant frequency (DF) during AF are predictive of cardioversion success. We thus aimed to study the variables associated with AF termination. Methods: 125 patients (90 M, 55 ± 11 years) undergoing cardioversion during catheter ablation of AF were studied. Variables evaluated in relation to AF termination with cardioversion included: gender, age, weight, AF duration, left atrial (LA) diameter, AFCL and DF in the coronary sinus, and presence of structural heart disease. Results: A total of 218 cardioversions were performed. Of these, 171 (78%) were successful and 47 (22%) were unsuccessful in terminating AF to sinus rhythm. Of the variables evaluated, longer AFCL (227 ± 67 ms vs. 194 ± 32 ms, p = 0.004), lower DF (4.77 ± 1.01 Hz vs. 5.21 ± 0.91 Hz, p = 0.009), smaller LA size (49 ± 7 mm vs. 53 ± 7 mm, p = 0.01) and lower weight (88 ± 14 kg vs. 93 ± 9 kg, p = 0.07) were associated with increased cardioversion success. AFCL and LA diameter were the strongest predictive variables of cardioversion success by multivariate analysis. Termination of AF was predicted by an AFCL >200 ms with a sensitivity of 56% and specificity of 68%. At AFCL >250 ms, specificity was 93% and sensitivity 28%. Conclusions: The probability of successful cardioversion of AF is strongly related to slower atrial activation rates. LA diameter is also a strong predictor of cardioversion success.
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