SynthesisEuropean heart journal. Quality of care & clinical outcomes2023
Freedom from atrial arrhythmia and other clinical outcomes at 5 years and beyond after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in European heart journal. Quality of care & clinical outcomes, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Correlation between diagnosis-to-ablation time and atrial fibrillation recurrence: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of interventional cardiac electrophysiology : an international journal of arrhythmias and pacing · 2025Pooled it
- Comparing simultaneous hybrid ablation with stand-alone thoracoscopic surgical ablation for the treatment of non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: a prospective randomized controlled trial.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 · 2024Trial
- Association of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic burden with recurrence after first ablation in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2026Article
- Discontinuation of Oral Anticoagulation After Successful Atrial Fibrillation Ablation - Are We Ready to Change Clinical Practice in 2026?Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2026Review
- First-pass isolation and procedural metrics associated with catheter ablation outcomes for atrial fibrillation: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Article
- Construction of a Multidisciplinary Follow-Up Indicator System Based on the ABC Pathway for Patients with Atrial Fibrillation After Ablation: A Delphi Study.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2026Article
- Predictors of Atrial Fibrillation Late Recurrence and Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events After Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation: A Clinical Nomogram Model.International journal of general medicine · 2026Article
- Controversy: the blanking period after atrial fibrillation ablation is needed and should be maintained.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 · 2025Article
- Predictive Value of Epicardial Adipose Tissue Parameters Measured by Cardiac Computed Tomography for Recurrence of Atrial Fibrillation After Pulmonary Vein Isolation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Association Between Left Atrial Epicardial Adipose Tissue Attenuation Assessed by Cardiac Computed Tomography and Atrial Fibrillation Recurrence Following Catheter Ablation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Digital Twin Models in Atrial Fibrillation: Charting the Future of Precision Therapy?Journal of personalized medicine · 2025Review
- Challenges and Opportunities for Atrial Fibrillation Management.Cardiology discovery · 2025Review
- Epigenetic Drivers of Atrial Fibrillation: Mechanisms, Biomarkers, and Therapeutic Targets.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Feasibility and safety of zero-fluoro, "apron-less" approach to repeat pulmonary vein isolation procedures using radiofrequency energy after initial cryoballoon ablation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Catheter Ablation in Atrial Fibrillation: Recent Advances.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Treatment of atrial fibrillation with second-generation cryoballoon followed by contact-sensing radiofrequency catheter ablation for arrhythmia recurrences-results of a 5-year follow-up.Journal of interventional cardiac electrophysiology : an international journal of arrhythmias and pacing · 2024Article
- Long-term outcomes after hospitalization for atrial fibrillation or flutter.European heart journal · 2024Article
- The outcomes of concomitant catheter ablation in non-mitral valve cardiac surgery-a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature.Annals of cardiothoracic surgery · 2024Article
- Hybrid ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation: a narrative review.Journal of thoracic disease · 2024Review
- Analysis of pulsed field ablation using focal contact force-sensing catheters for treatment of atrial fibrillation: acute and 90-day invasive remapping results.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
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsCatheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) is now a mainstream procedure although long-term outcomes are uncertain. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of procedural outcomes at 5 years and beyond. METHODS AND
resultsWe searched PubMed and Embase and after the screening, identified 73 studies (67 159 patients) reporting freedom from atrial arrhythmia, all-cause death, stroke, and major bleeding at ≥5 years after AF ablation. The pooled mean age was 59.7y, 71.5% male, 62.2% paroxysmal AF, and radiofrequency was used in 78.1% of studies. Pooled incidence of freedom from atrial arrhythmia at 5 years was 50.6% (95%CI 45.5-55.7%) after a single ablation and 69.7% [95%CI (confidence interval) 63.8-75.3%) after multiple procedures. The incidence was higher among patients with paroxysmal compared with non-paroxysmal AF after single (59.7% vs. 33.3%, p = 0.002) and multiple (80.8% vs. 60.6%, p < 0.001) ablations but was comparable between radiofrequency and cryoablation. Pooled incidences of other outcomes were 6.0% (95%CI 3.2-9.7%) for death, 2.4% (95%CI 1.4-3.7%) for stroke, and 1.2% (95%CI 0.8-2.0%) for major bleeding at 5 years. Beyond 5 years, freedom from arrhythmia recurrence remained largely stable (52.3% and 64.7% after single and multiple procedures at 10 years), while the risk of stroke and bleeding increased over time.
conclusionNearly 70% of patients having multiple ablations remained free from atrial arrhythmia at 5 years, with the incidence slightly decreasing beyond this period. Risk of death, stroke, and major bleeding at 5 years were low but increased over time, emphasizing the importance of long-term thromboembolism prevention and bleeding risk management.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.