Outcome of AF ablation
Figure 5 demonstrated a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. In the first
ablation cases, AF recurrence or AT was observed in 117/299 (39%)
patients in the RF group (AF = 87, AT = 30), and observed in 47/124 (38
%) patients (AF = 33, AT = 15, both = 1) in the EIVOM/RF group. In the
re-do ablation cases, AF recurrence or AT was observed in 13/35 (37%)
patients in the RF group (AF = 10, AT = 3), and in 17/43 (40 %)
patients in the EIVOM/RF group (AF = 13, AT = 4). There was no
statistically significant difference in AF- or AT-free survival rate
between the two groups in both cases (log-rank p = 0.12 in the first,
0.30 in the re-do ablation cases). Of the total 194 patients who
experienced recurrent AF or AT, 122 (79 in the RF group and 43 in the
EIVOM/RF group) proceeded to the subsequent ablation process as shown in
Figure 1. A patient in the RF group who newly developed paroxysmal
supraventricular tachycardia without AF recurrence or AT also underwent
the subsequent ablation procedure. The remaining 72 patients did not
receive additional ablation because either medical therapy restored with
maintained sinus rhythm, or the patients received rhythm control
therapy.