ARTICOLI ORIGINALI   

Minerva Cardioangiologica 2015 April;63(2):99-103

Copyright © 2015 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Clinical experience with a novel, irrigated, flexible tip ablation catheter in atrial fibrillation ablation

Pezzulich B., Taralli S., Villata G., Sori P. ✉

Maria Pia Hospital, GVM Care & Research, Turin, Italy

AIM: This paper aimed at assessing clinical efficacy and safety of a new fully irrigated and flexible tip catheter (Therapy™ Cool Flex™, St Jude Medical, St. Paul, MN, USA) in ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF).
METHODS: The study enrolled 117 consecutive patients with symptomatic AF who underwent for the first time a circumferential pulmonary vein isolation with a new irrigated and flexible tip catheter.
RESULTS: All patients underwent successful pulmonary vein circumferential ablation. The mean procedure duration was 100±27 min, total fluoroscopy time was 7.4±5 min. The mean number of RF lesion was 139±43 and the mean total RF time was 22.45±3.9 min. Median follow-up was 665±241 days. Through Kaplan-Meier analysis, overall event-free survival was 79.7%. In details, arrhythmia free survival was 85.4% in patients with persistent AF, 76% in paroxysmal AF and 75% in chronic AF. Three patients (2.5%) suffered from minor vascular complication (groin hematoma). Two patients (1.7%) suffered from pericardial effusion, treated with pericardiocentesis and with no sequelae. We did not observe any atrioesophageal fistula or pulmonary vein stenosis.
CONCLUSION: The present study represents the largest cohort of patients receiving AF ablation with this new tip-flexible catheter. It demonstrated comparable efficacy to that previously reported, with a very low complication rate and procedural time. A head-to-head clinical trial would be necessary to address the relative efficacy of catheter type.