Ablation Versus Anti-arrhythmic Therapy in reducing hospital episodes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Ablation Versus Anti-arrhythmic Therapy for Reducing All Hospital Episodes from Recurrent Atrial Fibrillation
IRAS ID
136807
Contact name
Prapa Kanagaratnam
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Research summary
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart rhythm disturbance and causes palpitations, breathlessness, exertional symptoms and increases the likelihood of suffering a stroke. The most effective treatment to prevent the symptoms of AF involves destroying the abnormal heart tissue that causes the problem near the veins of the left atrium of the heart. The procedure has been continuously developed and changed since the first description in 1999. There are steps in the procedure and the follow up for the condition that we believe do not provide significant benefit to patients and are remnants of a development stage that is no longer relevant for modern management of patients with AF.
We have designed an approach that is based on the premise that patients undergoing an operation want a safe, effective and quick treatment that reduces their symptoms so that they do not drugs or need hospital tests and appointments.
The current ablation approach involves measuring the electrical signal in the heart at the end of the procedure to prove that the sufficient ablation has been done. However we know that most patients’ veins will develop electrical connections without causing recurrent problems. We know that with the Advance Cryoballoon approach more than 80% of the veins will not have electrical signals at the end of the procedure and so the benefit of additional electrical testing with this particular technology is not established.
We also want to assess the best way of following patients up after these procedures. The current international guidelines suggest that even if the treatment is successful and patient has no further symptoms, that further tests and hospital appointments are required to prove that the rhythm is stable. We do not think this is necessary as both doctors and guidelines would only advise further treatment if you suffer palpitations again. We believe the right time to do any further tests is if you suffer further palpitations.We aim to recruit 300 patients to this study from 10 different hospitals.
REC name
London - Brent Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/0117
Date of REC Opinion
18 Feb 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion