Follow-up
Patients were followed-up with 12-lead ECG and 24-hour Holter ECG at 1,
3, 6 and 12 months and subsequently every 6 months. Amongst symptomatic
patients in whom 24-hour monitors failed to document arrhythmia, a 5-day
event recorder or portable ECG recorder (HeartScan, Omron Healthcare,
Kyoto, Japan) was used. The primary end point was a recurrence of atrial
arrhythmias (AAs), which included AF or AT. AA recurrence was defined as
the presence of AF/AT lasting >30 seconds after the
blanking period of 3 months.