• freedom of atrial tachycardia 6 months after ablation [ Time Frame: 6 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• freedom of symptoms due to atrial tachycardia 6 months after ablation safety [ Time Frame: 6 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation ablation procedures typically involve isolation of all pulmonary veins (PVs), yet the need for such an extensive ablation strategy in all patients is unclear.

OBJECTIVE:

We conduct a randomized study comparing the safety and effectiveness of two interventional ablation techniques for treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: the segmental pulmonary vein ablation approach, (1) with empiric isolation of all pulmonary veins or (2) Segmental Isolation of only the arrhythmogenic pulmonary vein(s). The single-blind interventional, randomized study will include 106 patients in each arm.

A reablation procedure, with the use of the same technique as the first ablation, will be offered to the patient in case of a symptomatic atrial fibrillation recurrence beyond the third month after the ablation procedure.

Follow-Up After discharge, patients w ill be scheduled for repeated visits in the arrhythmia clinic at 3 and 6 months after the first ablation. At each of these visits, intensive questioning for arrhythmia-related symptoms (fatigue, dizziness, and nausea) since the last follow-up visit was performed, especially for those that the patient had experienced before ablation. At every follow-up visit, 7-day Holter monitoring w ill be performed. Multislice CT or MRI of the pulmonary vein w ill be obtained before and 3 months after the ablation procedure for evaluation of the pulmonary vein anatomy and for detection of radiofrequency ablation-induced pulmonary vein stenosis .

Study End Points and Definitions The primary end point of the study will be freedom from atrial tachyarrhythmias (of > 30-second duration) including atrial fibrillation and atypical atrial flutter documented by 7-day Holter monitoring performed at the 6-month follow-up. Two secondary study end points will be chosen. The first will be freedom from arrhythmia-related symptoms during the 6-month follow-up. Because early recurrences of atrial tachyarrhythmias within the first month after ablation may be a transient phenomenon, this time interval was excluded from analysis. Second, a composite of periprocedural pericardial tamponade, thromboembolic complications, and pulmonary vein stenosis with > 50% lumen loss (main vessel or first branching) was defined as a safety end point