Cryoballoon Ablation for the Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation in Patients With Concomitant Heart Failure and Either Reduced or Preserved Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction: Results From the Cryo AF Global Registry

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) often coexist; yet, outcomes of ablation in patients with AF and concomitant HF are limited. This analysis assessed outcomes of cryoablation in patients with AF and HF. METHODS AND RESULTS: The Cryo AF Global Registry is a prospective, multicenter registry of patients with AF who were treated with cryoballoon ablation according to routine practice at 56 sites in 26 countries. Patients with baseline New York Heart Association class I to III (HF cohort) were compared with patients without HF. Freedom from atrial arrhythmia recurrence ≥30 seconds, safety, and health care utilization over 12‐month follow‐up were analyzed. A total of 1303 patients (318 HF) were included. Patients with HF commonly had preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (81.6%), were more often women (45.6% versus 33.6%) with persistent AF (25.8% versus 14.3%), and had a larger left atrial diameter (4.4±0.9 versus 4.0±0.7 cm). Serious procedure‐related complications occurred in 4.1% of patients with HF and 2.6% of patients without HF (P=0.188). Freedom from atrial arrhythmia recurrence was not different between cohorts with either paroxysmal AF (84.2% [95% CI, 78.6–88.4] versus 86.8% [95% CI, 84.2–89.0]) or persistent AF (69.6% [95% CI, 58.1–78.5] versus 71.8% [95% CI, 63.2–78.7]) (P=0.319). After ablation, a reduction in AF‐related symptoms and antiarrhythmic drug use was observed in both cohorts (HF and no‐HF), and freedom from repeat ablation was not different between cohorts. Persistent AF and HF predicted a post‐ablation cardiovascular rehospitalization (P=0.032 and P=0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Cryoablation to treat patients with AF is similarly effective at 12 months in patients with and without HF. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique Identifier: NCT02752737.