Observational studyEuropean journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery2022
Convergent ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation: outcomes from a single-centre real-world experience.
Observational study in European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgical ablation and hybrid ablation in AF patients: results from a single-arm systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of cardiothoracic surgery · 2026Pooled it
- Guideline
- 2023 ACC/AHA/ACCP/HRS Guideline for the Diagnosis and Management of Atrial Fibrillation: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines.Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2024Guideline
- Convergent Hybrid Ablation and Concomitant Left Atrial Appendage Exclusion for Stroke Prevention and Rhythm Control in Persistent Atrial Fibrillation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Enhanced Precision in the Convergent Procedure for Persistent Atrial Fibrillation Using Real-Time Intraoperative 3D Electrophysiological Mapping.Clinical case reports · 2025Article
- Hybrid convergent procedure with proactive oesophageal cooling for the treatment of long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation: a case series.European heart journal. Case reports · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesAtrial 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.
methodsWe 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.
resultsAt 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.
conclusionsConvergent 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.
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