Convergent ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation: outcomes from a single-centre real-world experience.

OBJECTIVES: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common and can cause significant morbidity and detriment to quality of life. Success rates for conventional catheter ablation are suboptimal in persistent AF (PsAF), especially when longstanding. Convergent hybrid ablation combines endoscopic surgical epicardial and endocardial catheter ablation. It offers promise in treating PsAF. We aimed to evaluate outcomes at our centre following convergent ablation. METHODS: We conducted an observational study of patients undergoing ablation from 2012 to 2019 at a London cardiac centre. Sixty-seven patients underwent convergent ablation entailing epicardial ablation, mostly via sub-xiphoid access, followed by endocardial left atrial catheter ablation. Baseline and follow-up data were obtained retrospectively from clinical records. Primary outcome was freedom from AF on/off anti-arrhythmic drugs after 12-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes included freedom from AF over the entire follow-up, freedom from anti-arrhythmic drugs, freedom from atrial arrhythmias, symptom status, repeat ablation and complications. RESULTS: At baseline, 80.6% had PsAF >1 year (80.6%), 49.3% had body mass index >30 kg/m2 at baseline and 19.4% had left ventricular ejection fraction of 40% or less. The median follow-up was 2.3 (1.4-3.7) years. Freedom from AF recurrence was 81.3% at 1 year and 61.5% over overall follow-up. Eleven patients (16.4%) required redo AF ablation. Prolonged AF duration was associated with increased recurrence at 12 months and duration >5 years with a shorter time to recurrence on Kaplan-Meier analysis, but this and other factors did not significantly impact the AF recurrence during the overall follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Convergent ablation had good 1-year and overall success rates for treating PsAF. Our results in a diverse, real-world population support the potential of convergent ablation in patients with challenging to treat PsAF.

Leadless left ventricular endocardial pacing for CRT upgrades in previously failed and high-risk patients in comparison with coronary sinus CRT upgrades.

AIMS: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) upgrades may be less likely to improve following intervention. Leadless left ventricular (LV) endocardial pacing has been used for patients with previously failed CRT or high-risk upgrades. We compared procedural and long-term outcomes in patients undergoing coronary sinus (CS) CRT upgrades with high-risk and previously failed CRT upgrades undergoing LV endocardial upgrades. METHOD AND RESULTS: Prospective consecutive CS upgrades between 2015 and 2019 were compared with those undergoing WiSE-CRT implantation. Cardiac resynchronization therapy response at 6 months was defined as improvement in clinical composite score (CCS) and a reduction in LV end-systolic volume (LVESV) ≥15%. A total of 225 patients were analysed; 121 CS and 104 endocardial upgrades. Patients receiving WiSE-CRT tended to have more comorbidities and were more likely to have previous cardiac surgery (30.9% vs. 16.5%; P = 0.012), hypertension (59.2% vs. 34.7%; P < 0.001), chronic obstructive airways disease (19.4% vs. 9.9%; P = 0.046), and chronic kidney disease (46.4% vs. 21.5%; P < 0.01) but similar LV ejection fraction (30.0 ± 8.3% vs. 29.5 ± 8.6%; P = 0.678). WiSE-CRT upgrades were successful in 97.1% with procedure-related mortality in 1.9%. Coronary sinus upgrades were successful in 97.5% of cases with a 2.5% rate of CS dissection and 5.6% lead malfunction/displacement. At 6 months, 91 WiSE-CRT upgrades and 107 CS upgrades had similar improvements in CCS (76.3% vs. 68.5%; P = 0.210) and reduction in LVESV ≥15% (54.2% vs. 56.3%; P = 0.835). CONCLUSION: Despite prior failed upgrades and high-risk patients with more comorbidities, WiSE-CRT upgrades had high rates of procedural success and similar improvements in CCS and LV remodelling with CS upgrades.

Clinical effectiveness of a dedicated cardiac resynchronization therapy pre-assessment clinic incorporating cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and cardiopulmonary exercise testing on patient selection and outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Pre-procedural assessment of patients undergoing cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is heterogenous and patients implanted with unfavorable characteristics may account for non-response. A dedicated CRT pre-assessment clinic (CRT PAC) was developed to standardize the review process and undertake structured pre-procedural evaluation. The aim of this analysis was to determine the effectiveness on patient selection and outcomes. METHODS: A prospective database of consecutive patients attending the CRT PAC between 2013 and 2018 was analyzed. Pre-operative assessment included cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). Patients were considered CRT responders based on improvement in clinical composite score (CCS) and/or reduction in left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV) ≥ 15% at 6-months follow-up. RESULTS: Of 252 patients reviewed in the CRT PAC during the analysis period, 192 fulfilled consensus guidelines for implantation. Of the patients receiving CRT, 82% showed improvement in their CCS and 57% had a reduction in LVESV ≥ 15%. The presence of subendocardial scar on CMR and a peak VO2 ≤ 12 ml/kg/min on CPET predicted CRT non-response. Two patients were unsuitable for CRT as they had end-stage heart failure and died during follow-up. The majority of patients initially deemed unsuitable for CRT did not suffer from unexpected hospitalization for decompensated heart failure or died from cardiovascular disease; only 8 patients (13%) received CRT devices during follow-up because of symptomatic left ventricular systolic impairment. CONCLUSION: A dedicated CRT PAC is able to appropriately select patients for CRT. Pre-procedural investigation/imaging can identify patients unlikely to respond to, or may not yet be suitable for CRT.