title: Recurrences in the Blanking Period and 12-Month Success Rate by Continuous Cardiac Monitoring After Cryoablation of Paroxysmal and Non-Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recurrences within the blanking period (early recurrences) are common after atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation by pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), but their clinical significance is still controversial. We aimed at evaluating the significance of within-blanking recurrences at 12-month follow-up after cryoballoon (CB) PVI, and to assess the real procedural success rate by continuous monitoring of cardiac rhythm.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty consecutive AF patients (34 paroxysmal, 56.7%) underwent their first CB-PVI at one Italian center (May 2013 to April 2015), and subsequent implantation of an implantable loop recorder (ILR). Overall, 12-month success rate after the blanking period was 55%. The shortest detected event was 7 minutes long. Late recurrences were more frequent in non-paroxysmal (19/26, 73.1%) than in paroxysmal AF (8/34, 23.5%; P <0.001). Early recurrences occurred in 17 (28.3%) patients, with 14 also having late recurrences (82.3%), while only 13 out of 43 (30.2%) without within-blanking recurrences experienced post-blanking events (P <0.001). Overall, early recurrences showed 51.8% sensitivity (95% CI 31.9-71.3%) and 90.9% specificity (95% CI 75.7-98.1%) for later recurrences, with 82.3% (95% CI 56.6-96.2%) positive and 69.8% (95% CI 53.9-82.8%) negative predictive value. The positive likelihood ratio was 5.7 (95% CI 1.8-17.8). At multivariable analysis, non-paroxysmal AF (HR: 3.113; 95% CI 1.309-7.403; P = 0.010) and within-blanking recurrences (HR: 3.453; 95% CI 1.544-7.722; P = 0.003) were independent predictors of post-blanking AT/AF.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CB-PVI for paroxysmal AF shows a 12-month success rate of 76.5% after one single procedure, as assessed by continuous cardiac rhythm monitoring. Within-blanking recurrences predict the ablation failure in more than 80% of patients.
authors.affiliation: Heart and Vessels Department, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pieragnoli
authors.affiliation: Heart and Vessels Department, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paoletti Perini
authors.affiliation: Heart and Vessels Department, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.affiliation: Heart and Vessels Department, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Checchi
authors.affiliation: Heart and Vessels Department, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.|Ospedale Santa Maria Nuova, Cardiology Unit, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giomi
authors.affiliation: Heart and Vessels Department, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Iacopo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Muraca
authors.affiliation: Heart and Vessels Department, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mannucci
authors.affiliation: Heart and Vessels Department, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.|IRCCS Multimedica, Sesto San Giovanni, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Padeletti
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003452:Cryosurgery / Q000009:adverse effects; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D012008:Recurrence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013686:Telemetry; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: blanking period; cryoballoon ablation; early recurrence; implantable loop recorder; late recurrence; paroxysmal atrial fibrillation