Gang Wu1, He Huang1, Lin Cai2, Yanzong Yang3, Xu Liu4, Bo Yu5, Yanhong Tang1, Hong Jiang1, Congxin Huang1. 1. Department of Cardiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Wuhan university, Hubei Key Laboratory of Cardiology, Wuhan, Hubei 430060, China. 2. Department of Cardiology, The Third People's Hospital of Chengdu, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. 3. Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, China. 4. Department of Cardiology, Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China. 5. Department of Cardiology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China.
Abstract
AIMS: The roles of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) and pharmacotherapy in treating persistent and long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) have not been sufficiently investigated. We conducted a multicentre, randomized, controlled trial to compare the effects of RFCA and pharmacotherapy on the prognosis of these patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 648 patients with persistent and long-standing persistent AF were enrolled from 30 centres and randomized to either the ablation group (n = 327) or the pharmacotherapy group (n = 321). After 54.2 ± 10.6 months of follow-up, the primary endpoints occurred significantly more rarely in the ablation group than in the pharmacotherapy group (10.4% vs. 17.4%; hazard ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval 0.48-0.75; P < 0.001). The incidence of stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA) was significantly lower in the ablation group (4.2% vs. 7.2%, P < 0.001). Likewise, the incidence of new-onset congestive heart failure (CHF) was lower in the ablation group (2.8% vs. 7.2%, P < 0.001). More patients had sinus rhythm in the ablation group than in the pharmacotherapy group (60.6% vs. 20.9%, P < 0.001), but fewer patients were on antiarrhythmic drugs (24.4% vs. 41.6%, P < 0.001) and warfarin (60.8% vs. 83.9%, P = 0.001). Both the 6-min walk distance and the quality of life (QoL) were improved in the ablation group at the end of follow-up. CONCLUSION: In patients with persistent and long-standing persistent AF, RFCA-based treatment was superior to pharmacotherapy in decreasing stroke/TIA and new-onset CHF and improving QoL. Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved.
AIMS: The roles of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) and pharmacotherapy in treating persistent and long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) have not been sufficiently investigated. We conducted a multicentre, randomized, controlled trial to compare the effects of RFCA and pharmacotherapy on the prognosis of these patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 648 patients with persistent and long-standing persistent AF were enrolled from 30 centres and randomized to either the ablation group (n = 327) or the pharmacotherapy group (n = 321). After 54.2 ± 10.6 months of follow-up, the primary endpoints occurred significantly more rarely in the ablation group than in the pharmacotherapy group (10.4% vs. 17.4%; hazard ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval 0.48-0.75; P < 0.001). The incidence of stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA) was significantly lower in the ablation group (4.2% vs. 7.2%, P < 0.001). Likewise, the incidence of new-onset congestive heart failure (CHF) was lower in the ablation group (2.8% vs. 7.2%, P < 0.001). More patients had sinus rhythm in the ablation group than in the pharmacotherapy group (60.6% vs. 20.9%, P < 0.001), but fewer patients were on antiarrhythmic drugs (24.4% vs. 41.6%, P < 0.001) and warfarin (60.8% vs. 83.9%, P = 0.001). Both the 6-min walk distance and the quality of life (QoL) were improved in the ablation group at the end of follow-up. CONCLUSION: In patients with persistent and long-standing persistent AF, RFCA-based treatment was superior to pharmacotherapy in decreasing stroke/TIA and new-onset CHF and improving QoL. Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved.