Four-year follow-up of outcomes of the hybrid epicardial-endocardial ablation: A single-center experience.

Background: The CONVERGE trial demonstrated that hybrid epicardial and endocardial ablation was more effective than catheter ablation for the treatment of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) at 1 year. Long-term real-world outcome data are scarce.

Objective: We described a single-center experience by evaluating the long-term effectiveness and safety of hybrid epicardial-endocardial ablation.

Left Atrial Volume Index Predicts Arrhythmia-Free Survival in Patients with Persistent Atrial Fibrillation Undergoing Cryoballoon Ablation.

Background: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using cryoballoon ablation (PVI-C) is increasingly performed as a first-line strategy for the treatment of patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (PersAF); however, follow-up data and predictors of procedural success are lacking.

Objective: To study the efficacy of PVI-C in patients with PersAF, focusing on predictors of procedural success.

Methods: By retrospective review, 148 consecutive patients with PersAF who underwent PVI-C were analyzed.

Safety of anticoagulation with uninterrupted warfarin vs. interrupted dabigatran in patients requiring an implantable cardiac device.

Background: The optimal strategy of peri-procedural anticoagulation in patients undergoing permanent cardiac device implantation is controversial. Our objective was to compare the major bleeding and thromboembolic complications in patients managed with uninterrupted warfarin (UW) vs. interrupted dabigatran (ID) during permanent pacemaker (PPM) or implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) implantation.

Cardiac perforation and lead dislodgement after implantation of a MR-conditional pacing lead: a single-center experience.

Objective: The purpose of our study was to determine if the rate of lead-related complications was increased with the Medtronic CapSureFix MRI™ SureScan™ 5086 MRI pacing lead (5086; Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) compared to the previous generation of Medtronic CapSureFix Novus™ 5076 pacing lead (5076).

Background: The 5086 lead is a newly introduced active-fixation pacemaker lead designed to be used conditionally in a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner.