Prevention of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in patients with sinus bradycardia: role of right atrial linear ablation and pacing site.

Introduction: Right atrial linear lesions (RALL), either alone or in combination with antiarrhythmic drug therapy, may modify the substrate for maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of this prospective randomized study was to determine whether RALL provides additional benefit to right atrial appendage pacing (RAAP) and/or interatrial septum pacing (IASP) and drug therapy in patients with symptomatic paroxysmal AF and sinus bradycardia requiring permanent atrial pacing.

Methods And Results: Sixty-four patients (33 men and 31 women, mean age 73 +/- 10 years) completed the 6-month follow-up.