Cryoballoon Ablation Study

Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia that is associated with a reduced quality of life and an increased number of adverse outcomes such as stroke, heart failure, increased number of hospitalizations and mortality. Prevalence in developed countries is currently 1.5-2% of the general population, with the incidence steadily rising. Hence, prevalence is estimated to at least double in the next 50 year as the population ages. It has become a big deal for the health care system in terms of economics and management (1-5).
AF progresses from short, rare episodes to longer and more frequent attacks (15).The rate of progression from pAF to persistent AF is substantial. Only a small proportion of them continue to experience arrhythmic paroxysm (2-3% of AF patients) while other patients will develop more sustained forms of AF. When AF is persistent (≥7 days of episode length) it is associated with therapeutic resistance and
These procedures are associated with significant high success rate in maintain sinus rhythm and prevention of AF recurrences. In particular, we proposed cryoballoon ablation technique to be the ablation measure to study. CBA has been demonstrated safe and effective in producing PVI (23-24).
CBA is performed commonly worldwide, although in the guidelines treatment algorithms it remains a subject of debate. Currently, catheter ablation is recommended as a second-line therapy in patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF after treatment with at least 1 AADs has failed (12-13, 21-22).
To the best of our knowledge data assessing the outcome of CBA offers as a first-line treatment for patients with pAF is missing. Therefore, in the present study we will propose to analyze the feasibility, complication rate, acute procedural success and clinical outcome of patients undergoing CBA as first-line