Stent fracture worsened the patency during the first 2 years, but it did not apparently affect patency beyond 2 years. In particular, complete stent separation did not affect patency.
Background
The efficacy of low‐voltage‐area (
LVA
) ablation has not been well determined. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of
LVA
ablation in addition to pulmonary vein isolation on rhythm outcomes in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (
AF
).
Methods and Results
VOLCANO (Catheter Ablation Targeting Low‐Voltage Areas After Pulmonary Vein Isolation in Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation Patients) trial included paroxysmal AF patients undergoing initial AF ablation. Of 398 patients in whom a left atrial voltage map was obtained after pulmonary vein isolation, 336 (85%) had no
LVA
(group A). The remaining 62 (15%) patients with
LVA
s were randomly allocated to undergo
LVA
ablation (group B, n=30) or not (group C, n=32) in a 1:1 fashion. Primary end point was 1‐year
AF
‐recurrence‐free survival rate. No adverse events related to
LVA
ablation occurred. Procedural (124±40 versus 95±33 minutes,
P
=0.003) and fluoroscopic times (29±11 versus 24±8 minutes,
P
=0.034) were longer in group B than group C. Patients with
LVA
s demonstrated lower
AF
‐recurrence‐free survival rates (88%) than those without
LVA
(B, 57%,
P
<0.0001; C, 53%,
P
<0.0001). However,
LVA
ablation in addition to pulmonary vein isolation did not impact
AF
‐recurrence‐free survival rate (group B versus C,
P
=0.67).
Conclusions
The presence of
LVA
was a strong predictor of
AF
recurrence after pulmonary vein isolation in patients with paroxysmal
AF
. However,
LVA
ablation had no beneficial impact on 1‐year rhythm outcomes.
Registration
URL:
https://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr
; Unique identifier: UMIN000023403.
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