Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2017 Jun 23;81(7):974-980.
doi: 10.1253/circj.CJ-16-1334. Epub 2017 Mar 24.

Three-Year Clinical Outcome After 2nd-Generation Cryoballoon-Based Pulmonary Vein Isolation for the Treatment of Paroxysmal and Persistent Atrial Fibrillation - A 2-Center Experience

Christian-H Heeger  1 , Erik Wissner  1   2 , Milena Knöll  1 , Benedikt Knoop  1 , Bruno Reissmann  1 , Shibu Mathew  1 , Christian Sohns  1 , Christine Lemes  1 , Tilman Maurer  1 , Francesco Santoro  1 , Johannes Riedl  1 , Osamu Inaba  1 , Thomas Fink  1 , Laura Rottner  1 , Peter Wohlmuth  1 , Britta Goldmann  3 , Feifan Ouyang  1 , Karl-Heinz Kuck  1 , Andreas Metzner  1
Affiliations
Free article
Clinical Trial

Three-Year Clinical Outcome After 2nd-Generation Cryoballoon-Based Pulmonary Vein Isolation for the Treatment of Paroxysmal and Persistent Atrial Fibrillation - A 2-Center Experience

Christian-H Heeger et al. Circ J. .
Free article

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using the 2nd-generation cryoballoon (CB2) for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) has demonstrated encouraging acute and mid-term results. However, follow-up data on outcomes beyond 1 year are sparse. We investigated the 3-year outcome after PVI using the CB2.

Methods and results: 100 patients with paroxysmal (PAF, 70/100 [70%] patients) or persistent AF (pAF, 30/100 [30%] patients) underwent CB2-based PVI in 2 experienced centers in Germany. Freeze-cycle duration was 240 s. After successful PVI a bonus freeze-cycle of the same duration was applied in the first 71 patients but was omitted in the following 29 patients. Phrenic nerve palsy occurred in 3 patients (3%); 2 patients were lost to follow-up. After a median follow-up of 38 (29-50) months, 59/98 (60.2%) patients remained in stable sinus rhythm (PAF: 48/70 (69%), pAF: 11/28 (39%) P=0.0084). In 32/39 (77%) patients with arrhythmia recurrence, a second ablation procedure using radiofrequency energy was conducted. Persistent PVI was noted in 76/125 (61%) PVs. After a mean of 1.37±0.6 procedures and a median follow-up of 35 (25-39) months, 77/98 (78.6%) patients remained in stable sinus rhythm (PAF: 56/70 (80%), pAF: 20/28 (71%), P=0.0276).

Conclusions: CB2-based PVI resulted in a 60.2% single-procedure and a 78.6% multiple-procedure success rate after 3 years. Repeat procedures demonstrated a high rate of durable PVI.

Keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Cryoballoon; Long-term follow-up; Pulmonary vein isolation.

PubMed Disclaimer

References