Pulmonary Vein Isolation Outcome Degree Is a New Score for Efficacy of Atrial Fibrillation Catheter Ablation

This study introduces the pulmonary vein isolation outcome degree (PVIOD) as a new semiquantitative measure for the efficacy of atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation and reports the determination of predictors associated with PVIOD. The median follow-up periods of 117 patients after the first and last ablation were, respectively, 82 (IQR 15) and 72 (IQR 30) months. PVIOD 1 included 32.5% of patients, those with successful single pulmonary vein isolation (PVI); PVIOD 2 included 29.1% of subjects, those with success after multiple procedures; PVIOD 3 comprised 14.5% of patients, those with clinical success; and PVIOD 4 included 23.9% of cases, those with procedural and clinical failure. In the multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis, PVIOD 1-4 were independently associated with longstanding persistent AF with paroxysmal AF as the referent category (odds ratio (OR), 3.5; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.1-10.7 (p = 0.031)), left atrial (LA) diameter (OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1-1.3 (p = 0.001)) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (OR, 0.9; 95% CI, 0.86-1.0 (p = 0.038)). LA size > 41 mm, LVEF ≤ 50% and longstanding persistent AF are strong predictors of AF recurrence. PVIOD 1-4 offer the most exact long-term prognosis of PVI. The purpose of the present article is to expand the quantitative measure of procedural success in the medical and biological fields.