View clinical trials related to AF - Atrial Fibrillation.
Filter by:The close relationship between the increase of sympathetic tension, AF, and HTN cannot be ignored. In addition, the significant failure rate of PVI (20-50%) in the treatment of AF makes it very necessary to explore the effect of RDN on AF. Therefore, this study aims to compare the effects and safety of PVI alone and PVI combined with RDN with AF combined with HTN, which will open a new chapter for PVI combined with RDN in the treatment of AF.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common debilitating heart rhythm condition that can cause heart failure and negatively impact a patient's outlook in terms of symptoms and disability. It is an irregular fast heart rhythm disorder coming from the top chamber of the heart (left atrium). Catheter ablation treatment has been shown to be effective in controlling or eliminating AF and its associated symptoms. This is now a common and effective treatment option for patients suffering with AF. During ablation, thermal energy is applied in the top chamber of the heart (the left atrium) to abolish abnormal electrical signals that cause AF. It is generally a safe procedure, but one potential risk associated with this procedure is damage to the oesophagus caused by thermal energy being transmitted to the oesophagus from the heart. The oesophagus sits just behind the heart chamber where ablation work is performed, about 5mm away, so it is vulnerable to damage. Although the risk of severe oesophageal damage is low, if it occurs it can be serious as the patient may become very ill as a result. In a recent study, it was shown that a more advanced type of oesophageal probe that cools the oesophagus during ablation is better at protecting the oesophagus from ablation-related injury compared to the standard care probe currently used. As it was a single-centre study, more evidence is required before knowing if this type of probe is more effective in protecting the oesophagus. The purpose is to run a multi-centre randomized study to compare the safety of AF ablation when there is protection by the oesophageal cooling probe versus the standard of care oesophageal temperature monitoring probe. This means that there is a 50:50 chance of the new cooling probe being used during AF ablation for participants.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia but can be treated by a catheter procedure where specialized wires (so-called catheters) are inserted in the left upper heart chamber. This requires crossing the wall between the right and left atrium with a long needle (a so-called transseptal puncture or TSP). This is typically done using x-ray guidance or echo to check if the needle is in the right position. The investigators developed a method to do the TSP without x-rays using a specialized needle that can be also shown as a little icon on the 3D electroanatomical mapping system (CARTO).3D mapping systems are routinely used to track the location of the catheters in cath labs worldwide, but the position of the needle was not tracked yet. The investigators seek to demonstrate that these procedures can be carried out safely, successfully and in a reproducible fashion without any radiation by taking advantage of "faking" the isolated tip of the needle as a catheter on the 3D mapping system. The results will be compared with historic procedures done by the same operator in the years 2012-2017.