ArticleJournal of cardiovascular electrophysiology2021
Comparison of procedural efficacy and biophysical parameters between two competing cryoballoon technologies for pulmonary vein isolation: Insights from an initial multicenter experience.
Article in Journal of cardiovascular electrophysiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Comparative efficacy and safety of POLARx versus Arctic front advance pro cryoballoon systems for pulmonary vein isolation in atrial fibrillation: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Comparison of procedural efficacy, balloon nadir temperature, and incidence of phrenic nerve palsy between two cryoballoon technologies for pulmonary vein isolation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of cardiovascular electrophysiology · 2021Pooled it
- Predictors of arrhythmia recurrence after cryoballoon ablation in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: a comparative analysis from the CONTRAST-CRYO trial.Journal of interventional cardiac electrophysiology : an international journal of arrhythmias and pacing · 2026Article
- Spatiotemporal Stability of Persistent Atrial Fibrillation Sources: Stable Source or Disease Progression?Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2026Article
- Comparison of Cryoballoon Ablation Methods in Pulmonary Vein Isolation.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Prospective evaluation of antral lesion size of the 31-mm size of a novel size-adjustable cryoballoon: Results of the BETTER-FIT study.Heart rhythm O2 · 2025Article
- Novel vs established cryoballoon ablation system for atrial fibrillation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Heart rhythm O2 · 2025Article
- Comparison of Arctic Front Advance Pro and POLARx cryoballoons for ablation therapy of atrial fibrillation: an intraprocedural analysis.Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society · 2025Article
- Incidence of pulmonary vein stenosis in two types of cryoballoon systems.Journal of arrhythmia · 2024Article
- Impact of wall thickness on the tissue cooling effect of cryoballoon ablation.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2024Article
- Initial clinical experience with the novel POLARx FIT cryoballoon system for pulmonary vein isolation in patients with atrial fibrillation.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2024Article
- Characteristics of two different cryoballoon systems for treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: study protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial (CONTRAST-CRYO Trial).Journal of interventional cardiac electrophysiology : an international journal of arrhythmias and pacing · 2024Article
- Atrial fibrillation cryoablation is an effective day case treatment: the UK PolarX vs. Arctic Front Advance experience.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023Article
- Novel or established cryoballoon ablation system for pulmonary vein isolation: the prospective ICE-AGE-1 study.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023Article
- Procedural performance between two cryoballoon systems for ablation of atrial fibrillation depends on pulmonary vein anatomy.Journal of arrhythmia · 2023Article
- Outcomes after cryoballoon ablation of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation with the PolarX or the Arctic Front Advance Pro: a prospective multicentre experience.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023Observational
- Novel cryoballoon ablation system for pulmonary vein isolation: multicenter assessment of efficacy and safety-ANTARCTICA study.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2022Observational
- Novel cryoballoon to isolate pulmonary veins in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: long-term outcomes in a multicentre clinical study.Journal of interventional cardiac electrophysiology : an international journal of arrhythmias and pacing · 2022Article
- Use of a novel integrated dilator-needle system in cryoballoon procedures: a zero-exchange approach.Journal of interventional cardiac electrophysiology : an international journal of arrhythmias and pacing · 2022Article
- Comparison of the acute outcome of two cryoballoon technologies for pulmonary vein isolation: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of cardiology. Heart & vasculature · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionRecently a novel cryoballoon system (POLARx, Boston Scientific) became available for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. This cryoballoon is comparable with Arctic Front Advance Pro (AFA-Pro, Medtronic), however, it maintains a constant balloon pressure. We compared the procedural efficacy and biophysical characteristics of both systems.
methodsOne hundred and ten consecutive patients who underwent first-time cryoballoon ablation (POLARx: n = 57; AFA-Pro: n = 53) were included in this prospective cohort study.
resultsAcute isolation was achieved in 99.8% of all pulmonary veins (POLARx: 99.5% vs. AFA-Pro: 100%, p = 1.00). Total procedure time (81 vs. 67 min, p < .001) and balloon in body time (51 vs. 35 min, p < .001) were longer with POLARx. After a learning curve, these times were similar. Cryoablation with POLARx was associated with shorter time to balloon temperature -30°C (27 vs. 31 s, p < .001) and -40°C (32 vs. 54 s, p < .001), lower balloon nadir temperature (-55°C vs. -47°C, p < .001), and longer thawing time till 0°C (16 vs. 9 s, p < .001). There were no differences in time-to-isolation (TTI; POLARx: 45 s vs. AFA-Pro 43 s, p = .441), however, POLARx was associated with a lower balloon temperature at TTI (-46°C vs. -37°C, p < .001). Factors associated with acute isolation differed between groups. The incidence of phrenic nerve palsy was comparable (POLARx: 3.5% vs. AFA-Pro: 3.7%).
conclusionThe novel cryoballoon is comparable to AFA-Pro and requires only a short learning curve to get used to the slightly different handling. It was associated with faster cooling rates and lower balloon temperatures but TTI was similar to AFA-Pro.
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