Observational studyJournal of interventional cardiac electrophysiology : an international journal of arrhythmias and pacing2025
A new stepwise approach to minimize phrenic nerve injury during cryoballoon pulmonary vein isolation.
Observational study in Journal of interventional cardiac electrophysiology : an international journal of arrhythmias and pacing, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA phrenic nerve injury (PNI) during cryoballoon (CB) pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) continues to represent a limitation of this technique. The objective of this study was to develop a novel technique with the aim of reducing the incidence of PNI.
methodsWe performed a retrospective analysis of data from two hospitals in patients with symptomatic, drug-resistant atrial fibrillation (AF) over 7 years to evaluate the incidence and clinical characteristics of PNI during cryoballoon PVI. Patients in the intervention group were treated with a new technique consisting of the following consecutive steps: (A) phrenic nerve stimulation near stimulation threshold instead of 10 V stimulation; (B) advanced ablation to the right superior pulmonary vein (PV) using a pre-freezing technique; (C) "pulling away" of the CB after vein isolation and/or after reaching - 40 °C for both right PVs. Two subtypes of PNI were studied: persistent (no recovery to discharge) and transient (recovery to discharge) PNI.
resultsNine hundred patients with a mean age of 62.3 (± 10.9) years (38% female) were analyzed. Transient PNI occurred in 8/250 patients (3.2%) in the intervention group compared to 39/750 patients (6%) in the control group (p = 0.09). Persistent PNI occurred in one patient (0.4%) in the intervention group compared to 18 (2.8%) in the control group (p = 0.03). Any PNI occurred in 9 patients in the intervention group (3.6%) compared to 57 patients (8.8%) in the control group (p = 0.008).
conclusionIn this retrospective analysis, a new cryo-PVI technique significantly reduces the incidence of PNI, particularly persistent PNI.
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.