Abstract:
ob<x>jective With the development of ablation catheter technology, pulmonary vein isolation(PVI) with the single ablation catheter has become a clinically feasible approach in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). This study investigated the safety and efficacy of high-power ablation for atrial fibrillation guided by ablation index (AI) using a single ablation catheter. Methods We included 77 consecutive patients including high power (HP) group (n = 37) and conventional power (CP) group (n = 40) who underwent PVI guided by AI in the affiliated hospital of Xuzhou medical university from January to May 2021. The patients in CP group were treated with standard protocol (SmartTouch catheter and circular mapping catheter, 25-35 Walt) and HP group with high-power protocol (SmartTouch Surrounding Flow catheter, 45-50 Walt). AI value targets of 450-500 anterior, 400-450 roof and 350-400 posterior and inferior were used. The end point of ablation was bilateral pulmonary vein isolation. PVI was documented with entrance and exit block. The patient characteristics, procedure characteristics including ablation time per lesion, the rate of impendence drop, PVI time, procedure duration, the rate of first-pass PVI and irrigated saline volume, and perioperative complications, recurrence rate at 6-months follow-up were analyzed between the two groups. Results There were no significant differences in the patients’ ba<x>seline data between conventional power ablation group and single-catheter high-power ablation group (P>0.05). Compared with CP group, HP group had shorter PVI time (25.0±3.8min vs 40.0±4.9min, P<0.01), shorter procedure time(153.8±44.1min vs 176.4±36.1min, P<0.05), lower impendence drop rate (13.0±1.7% vs 14.5±1.5%, P<0.01) and lower irrigated saline volume (756.9±196.6ml vs 986.7±184.3ml, P<0.01), whereas, the rate of left veins and right veins first-pass PVI rate was no significant differences in the HP group than that in the CP group (70% vs 86.5%, P>0.05; 80% vs 91.9%, P>0.05)). In these patients’, only one case with groin hematoma was observed in the CP group. Six-months freedom of AF /AT /AFL was similar in the Hp group and the CP group (86.5% vs 75.0%, P=0.20>0.05; and persistent AF: 83.3% vs 64.7%, P=0.26>0.05). There were no major complication except one case of femoral vein hematoma in the CP group.Conclusion AI-guided high power atrial fibrillation ablation with single STSF ablation catheter was safe and efficient strategy, and shorten PVI time and procedure time.