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CASTLE-HFpEF (Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation Patients With Heart Failure With Mildly Reduced and Preserved Ejection Fraction)
Sponsor: Tulane University
Summary
The clinical equipoise in the treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (AF) in patients with Heart Failure with mildly reduced Ejection Fraction/Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFmrEF/HFpEF) reflects the scarcity of randomized trials on different treatment modalities. By generating high-quality, evidence-based, randomized data on the impact of treatment on hard outcomes, Catheter Ablation Versus Standard Conventional Treatment in Atrial Fibrillation Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (CASTLE-HFpEF) will provide clinical decision-making guidance and help physicians in the management of patients with HFmrEF/HFpEF and AF. The main hypothesis is that Catheter Ablation (CA) for AF is associated with improved clinical outcomes in patients with HFmrEF/HFpEF and AF compared to medical AF treatment strategies on top of optimal medical HF treatment. CASTLE-HFpEF aims to study these hard clinical outcomes in a randomized cohort of patients with AF and HFmrEF/HFpEF.
Official title: Catheter Ablation Versus Standard Conventional Treatment in Atrial Fibrillation Patients With Heart Failure With Mildly Reduced and Preserved Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction - A Prospective, Randomized, Multi-national Study Using Two Systems for Rhythm Monitoring
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 120 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
900
Start Date
2026-03
Completion Date
2030-10
Last Updated
2025-12-04
Healthy Volunteers
No
Interventions
Catheter ablation
A catheter ablation (CA) is a minimally invasive medical procedure for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. Rhythm control of AF is attempted by pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) and posterior wall isolation (PWI). During the procedure, a catheter is guided to the heart through a blood vessel, which is either the femoral vein or a central vein, in order to ablate abnormal conductive heart tissue that causes the arrhythmias. Ablation is achieved either by thermal (cauterization by radiofrequency (RF) ablation / freezing by cryoballoon) or non-thermal mechanisms (primarily irreversible electroporation (IRE) through pulsed field ablation (PFA)). In case of successful ablation, a normal heart rhythm (sinus rhythm) can be restored.