Ablation outcomes
AF recurrence was observed in 101 (20%) patients after 1.4±0.6 ablation
procedures (maximum 4). On analysis of AF recurrence at 1 year after the
first ablation (Figure 3A), group A performed significantly better than
the other groups, but there was no difference between groups B and C.
Comparison of clinical outcomes after multiple procedures in the three
groups showed that the results depended on the extent of LVA (Figure
3B). Namely, the group without LVA (group A) had an extremely high
success rate despite persistent AF. In contrast, more than half of the
patients with extensive LVAs (group C) developed recurrence within a few
years, even after multiple treatments. The poor prognosis of patients
with extensive LVAs was also seen in the analysis of patients who were
retreated (Figure 3C).
Multivariate analysis of AF-free survival after the last procedure
showed that LVAs > 20 cm2 and longer AF
duration were independent factors associated with AF recurrence (Table
2).