Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Introduction
Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is a catheter ablation (CA) technique employed as a treatment strategy for atrial fibrillation in young patients or those who do not respond to medical therapy. Techniques for PVI include radiofrequency (RFA) ablation and balloon cryoablation. The left atrial posterior wall has been recognized as a significant anatomical area involved in the onset and persistence of atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the impact of additional posterior wall isolation (PWI) during PVI remains uncertain.
Research Question
What are the outcomes of pulmonary vein isolation compared to pulmonary vein isolation with adjunctive posterior wall isolation in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation?
Goals
To determine the efficacy of adjunctive posterior wall isolation in treating persistent AF.
Methods
A systematic literature search was conducted on various databases (Pubmed/Medline, EMBASE, Google Scholar, Scopus) from inception until March 2024, to include studies comparing outcomes of patients undergoing management of paroxysmal AF with either PVI + concurrent PWI versus only PVI. Observational studies and Randomized Controlled Trials were included. Review Manager (v 5.3) was used for pooled analysis of included studies employing risk ratio (RR) as the effect measure (4).
Results
We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis, pooling data from 5 studies with a total of 2,441 patients. Our analysis revealed a significant improvement in AF recurrence for the cryoablation technique with PVI+PWI (RR=0.56, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.76, I2=0%, p=0.0002) but no significant result was found for PVI+PWI in RFA (RR=1.37, 95% CI: 0.87, 2.18, I2=0%, p=0.18) for AF. For the recurrence of all arrhythmias, the risk ratios for cryoablation and RFA are 0.60 (95% CI: 0.46, 0.78, I2=0%, p=0.0001) and 1.17 (95% CI: 0.83, 1.65, I2=0%, p=0.37) respectively, significant in the case of cryoablation and non-significant for RFA.
Conclusion
Concurrent PWI with PVI with the cryoablation technique in patients for the management of paroxysmal AF reduces the risk of recurrent AF. Due to the limited number of studies included, it is possible that the results were underpowered. Further prospective studies in the future are warranted.