Description

Atrial Fibrillation is the commonest arrhythmia and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, often causative in ischaemic strokes and compounded by heart failure. Treatment options are limited for persistent long-standing AF (PeAF), with pulmonary vein isolation by endocardial ablation being insufficient and further additive endocardial lesions with repeated ablations yield mixed results resultant in further atrial arrhythmias. Currently success rates for catheter ablation are moderate at 40 to 70% in a single procedure.

If this was improved, patient quality of life and readmission rates would significantly improve as well as a reduction in anti-arrhythmic drug use.

The Convergent procedure - is a two stage minimally invasive hybrid approach. The first stage employs surgical ablation to the posterior wall of the left atrium in combination with the LARIAT procedure to isolate the left atrium appendage (LAA). The second stage involves endocardial catheter ablation to confirm the surgical ablation lesions, and perform further endocardial catheter ablation to leverage both epicardial and endocardial lesions to create durable, transmural lesions.

Patients with long-standing persistent AF will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to either the Convergent ablation with the LARIAT procedure or the standard endocardial catheter ablation.

This feasibility study would assess recruitment to the trial, safety and efficacy of the Convergent procedure, in combination with a left atrial appendage system.