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.