ArticleJournal of cardiovascular electrophysiology2026
Impact of Carina Width on Re-Ablation Rate of Atrial Fibrillation After Primary Cryoballoon-Ablation.
Article in Journal of cardiovascular electrophysiology, 2026. 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
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundReconnection of the pulmonary veins (PVs) is the primary cause of atrial fibrillation (AF) episodes after pulmonary vein isolation (PVI). Cryoballoon ablation does not always include the isolation of the carina due to anatomic variants and carina width has been associated with increased re-ablation rate in previous radiofrequency ablation studies. Aim of our study was to assess the impact of carina width on the re-ablation rate after cryoballoon-PVI.
methodsWe included 518 patients who underwent cryoballoon ablation for AF between 2015 and 2022. Each patient underwent contrast enhanced chest computed tomography (CT) scan prior to ablation. We measured the shortest distance between the superior and inferior PV (carina width) and the size of the left atrium in CT images. In patients referred to re-ablation due to recurring symptomatic and ECG documented AF we defined the reconnected veins. The minimum follow up after prior PVI was 1 year.
resultsIn all patients the right carina was wider than the left (8.04 ± 4.49 mm vs. 5.25 ± 3.03 mm, p < 0.059). One fifth (n = 102) of the patients underwent re-ablation for AF. Left carina width was significantly associated with re-ablation rate (in re-ablation group 6.4 ± 2.7 mm vs. in no re-ablation group 4.9 ± 3.0 mm, p < 0.001) whereas right carina width was not (8.3 ± 3.0 mm vs. 7.9 ± 3.6 mm, p = 0.421, respectively). Left atrium (LA) was larger in the re-ablation group, but the size of the LA did not correlate with the left carina width (r = 0.075; p = 0.111). However, there was a significant correlation between the size of the LA and the width of the right carina (r = 0.251, p < 0.001). Also, in the re-ablation group a significant correlation between right carina width and reconnection of the right PV's (RPV) was detected, which was not seen in the left PV's (LPV) (p = 0.015; p = 0.360, respectively).
conclusionThe left carina width and LA size are associated with the success rate of primary cryoballoon-PVI. However, there was a correlation between the right carina width and the reconnection of the RPV's leading to re-ablation. It seems that recognition of anatomical variants could be useful in the decision of ablation technique, but further studies are needed.
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.