Visually guided laser ablation: a single-centre long-term experience

Aims Durable isolation of the pulmonary veins (PVs) remains the cornerstone of treatment for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) and is also used in the treatment of some patients with persistent atrial fibrillation. Visually guided laser ablation (VGLA) has been proven to be safe and effective as a treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF). It has shown high levels of durable PV isolation (PVI), even in the hands of less experienced users. This paper presents the long-term clinical outcomes of all patients treated with VGLA over the course of 4 years in the world's most experienced centre: from early product feasibility work treating only PAF patients to our work using the commercially available product, when we also treated persistent AF patients. Methods and results One hundred and ninety-four patients (63 females, mean age 61 years) with either a history of drug-refractory PAF (time since initial diagnosis: 60.73 months) or persistent AF (time since initial diagnosis: 62.75 months) were treated in our laboratory with VGLA between 7 January 2009 and 17 May 2013. Follow-up of all patients was consistent with our standard clinical practice with a 7-day Holter being performed at the first clinical visit between 4 and 6 months and, for most patients, again at 12 months post-procedure. Twelve lead electrocardiograms were performed at all clinical visits. Recurrence of AF is defined as any documented AF episode >30s. Acute procedural results show that 692 veins were acutely isolated with a mean procedure and fluoroscopy time of 226 and 20.4 min, respectively. One hundred and seventy (158 PAF and 12 persistent AF) patients reached 1 year of follow-up, 130 (82.3%) patients remained free of AF in the PAF group, and 9 (75%) in the persistent group. Eighty-seven PAF patients have now reached 24 months follow-up and 66 (75.9%) remain free of AF. Fifty-four PAF patients have reached 36 months follow-up with 41 (75.9%) remaining free of AF. Thirty-two PAF patients have reached 48 months follow-up and 24 (75%) remain free of AF. The peri-procedural complications we encountered were phrenic nerve injury in four patients (2.06%), tamponade or pericardial effusion in one patient (0.51%), stroke or transient ischaemic attack in one patient (0.514%), and vascular injury in six patients (3.09%). We experienced no cases of PV stenosis or atrio-oesophageal fistula. Conclusion Our single-centre experience using VGLA over 4 years shows that it can be used safely and effectively in normal clinical practice and gives high levels of acute PVI accompanied by good clinical outcomes, even after long-term follow-up.