Clinical Research Directory

P-wave Duration and Local Potential as Predictors of AF Recurrence Following Pulmonary Vein Isolation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent sustained cardiac arrhythmia worldwide and is associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and healthcare utilization. Catheter ablation, most commonly pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), is an established rhythm control strategy for AF4. Despite technological advances and the emergence of pulse field ablation (PFA), long-term AF recurrence after a first ablation procedure remains frequent, occurring in approximately 30-50% of patients5. Post-ablation follow-up strategies, including visit frequency, rhythm monitoring intensity, and Antiarrhythmic Drug management, vary widely across providers and institutions and are largely guided by subjective assessment rather than objective, science-based recurrence risk estimation6. In parallel, asymptomatic (silent) AF recurrence is exacerbated following ablation, limiting the reliability of symptom-driven follow-up7. FOLLOW-AF is a retrospective, observational cohort study designed to validate the FollowGenius algorithm and evaluate the diagnostic performance in predicting AF recurrence based on atrial remodeling and vein isolation. The cohort will be patients with paroxysmal or persistent AF who underwent PVI with the PFA modality.

Application-Based Integrated Care in Patients After Pulse Field Ablation

"Atrial fibrillation (AF) is known as the most common sustained arrhythmia observed in clinical situation. Pulse Field Ablation (PFA) is a recently introduced, effective atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation modality. PFA is safe for treating patients with AF. The "MANIFEST-17K" international study showed important safety outcomes in 17,642 AF patients undergoing post-approval PFA, including no significant risk of esophageal damage, with PFA. PFA provides an appealing alternative to cryoablation and radiofrequency ablation, which often cause damage to non-targeted tissues, particularly the esophagus and phrenic nerve. An integrated care approach including risk factor management might be of benefit to the clinical outcomes of patients with AF. A mobile application-based integrated care approach is also relatively new and can reduce the burden of physicians and nurses. Recent studies showed that an integrated care approach to holistic AF care can improve the outcome of population-based studies. However, the effect of the mobile application-based integrated care approach has not been evaluated in ablation patients. Dementia, a decline in memory and other cognitive functions leading to disability in daily function is a common and feared geriatric condition. Although catheter ablation is one of the main treatments for AF, whether it can improve cognitive function in patients with AF remains unclear. Multiple observational trials have shown that catheter ablation is also associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline, dementia, and improved cognitive testing that can be explained through a variety of pathways. FARAPULSE™ PFA is becoming a widely used ablation technique in AF patients, and knowing the effect of an application-based integrated care approach after AF PFA ablation, and the change in cognitive function is novel. The hypothesis of the study is that AF freedom will be improved by using an application-based integrated care approach in AF patients after the FARAPULSE™ PFA. Another hypothesis is that because of the short procedure time of PFA, the cognitive function will be improved after PFA, and further improved using an application-based integrated care approach.