Introduction:
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia in
clinical practice leading to significant morbidity and mortality.
Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) via catheter ablation (CA) has become an
effective procedure for AF management, and given the association of AF
with increasing age, a rising proportion of patients of advanced age are
receiving this procedure. There have been significant advancements in
ablation techniques over the last decade. Cryoballoon (CB) ablation has
recently emerged as an effective strategy for the treatment of
symptomatic paroxysmal AF
(PAF)1. CB ablation has
been reported to be associated with shorter procedure time and
comparable safety and efficacy as compared to radiofrequency (RF)
ablation in randomized controlled trials
(RCTs)2,3.
Interestingly, these RCTs were conspicuous for the exclusion of patients
with advanced age. While several studies have reported data regarding
the safety and efficacy of CB vs. RF ablation of AF in elderly patients
from Asia4,5,
there is a paucity of such data from the United States (US).
Accordingly, the objective of our study was to compare the safety and
efficacy of CB vs. RF ablation in elderly patients and to determine the
predictor of arrhythmia recurrence in a contemporary cohort of patients
at our center.