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In the last three decades, ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) has become an evidence-based safe and efficacious treatment for managing the most common cardiac arrhythmia. In 2007, the first joint expert consensus document was issued, guiding healthcare professionals involved in catheter or surgical AF ablation. Mounting research evidence and technological advances have resulted in a rapidly changing landscape in the field of catheter and surgical AF ablation, thus stressing the need for regularly updated versions of this partnership which were issued in 2012 and 2017. Seven years after the last consensus, an updated document was considered necessary to define a contemporary framework for selection and management of patients considered for or undergoing catheter or surgical AF ablation. This consensus is a joint effort from collaborating cardiac electrophysiology societies, namely the European Heart Rhythm Association, the Heart Rhythm Society, the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society, and the Latin American Heart Rhythm Society., Competing Interests: Data availability No new data were generated or analyzed in support of this research., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

In the last three decades, ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) has become an evidence-based safe and efficacious treatment for managing the most common cardiac arrhythmia. In 2007, the first joint expert consensus document was issued, guiding healthcare professionals involved in catheter or surgical AF ablation. Mounting research evidence and technological advances have resulted in a rapidly changing landscape in the field of catheter and surgical AF ablation, thus stressing the need for regularly updated versions of this partnership which were issued in 2012 and 2017. Seven years after the last consensus, an updated document was considered necessary to define a contemporary framework for selection and management of patients considered for or undergoing catheter or surgical AF ablation. This consensus is a joint effort from collaborating cardiac electrophysiology societies, namely the European Heart Rhythm Association, the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), the Asia Pacific HRS, and the Latin American HRS., (© 2024. Heart Rhythm Society, the European Society of Cardiology, the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society, and the Latin American Heart Rhythm Society.)

In the last three decades, ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) has become an evidence-based safe and efficacious treatment for managing the most common cardiac arrhythmia. In 2007, the first joint expert consensus document was issued, guiding healthcare professionals involved in catheter or surgical AF ablation. Mounting research evidence and technological advances have resulted in a rapidly changing landscape in the field of catheter and surgical AF ablation, thus stressing the need for regularly updated versions of this partnership which were issued in 2012 and 2017. Seven years after the last consensus, an updated document was considered necessary to define a contemporary framework for selection and management of patients considered for or undergoing catheter or surgical AF ablation. This consensus is a joint effort from collaborating cardiac electrophysiology societies, namely the European Heart Rhythm Association, the Heart Rhythm Society, the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society, and the Latin American Heart Rhythm Society ., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: All members provided disclosure statements to assess potential conflicts of interest. Details are available in the Supplementary material., (This article has been co-published with permission in Europace, HeartRhythm, Journal of Arrhythmia and Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology. © 2024 Heart Rhythm Society, the European Society of Cardiology, the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society, and the Latin American Heart Rhythm Society The articles are identical except for minor stylistic and spelling differences in keeping with each journal's style. Any citation can be used when citing this article.)

Background/aims: Atrial fibrillation (AF)-related stroke accounts for 20% of ischemic strokes. Rivaroxaban use in AF patients for preventing stroke and systemic embolism was approved in 2013 in Korea. This study was to investigate the safety and effectiveness of rivaroxaban use in Korean patients with non-valvular AF in a real-world setting., Methods: This was an analysis of the Korean patients in Xarelto for Prevention of Stroke in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation in Asia-Pacific (XANAP), which was a prospective, observational cohort study including patients with non-valvular AF starting rivaroxaban treatment to prevent stroke or non-central nervous system systemic embolism (non-CNS SE), conducted in 10 Asian countries., Results: A total of 844 patients were enrolled in the Korean portion of the XANAP study. In XANAP Korea, the mean age was 70.1 years and 62.6% were males. The mean CHADS2 score was 2.5 and the mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 3.8. 47% of the patients had experienced prior stroke or non-CNS SE or transient ischemic attack. 73.6% of the patients had CHADS2 score ≥ 2. Incidence proportions of 0.8% of the patients (1.1 per 100 patient-years) developed adjudicated treatment-emergent major bleeding. Death was observed in 1.2% of the patients. The incidence of non-major bleeding as well as thromboembolic event were 8.4% (11.6 per 100 patient-years) and 1.5% (2.0 per 100 patient-years), respectively., Conclusion: This study reaffirmed the consistent safety profile of rivaroxaban. We found consistent results with overall XANAP population for rivaroxaban in terms of safety in non-valvular AF patients for the prevention of stroke and non-CNS SE.

The field of observational studies or "real world studies" is in rapid development with many new techniques introduced and increased understanding of traditional methods. For this reason the current paper provides an overview of current methods with focus on new techniques. Some highlights can be emphasized: We provide an overview of sources of data for observational studies. There is an overview of sources of bias and confounding. Next There is an overview of causal inference techniques that are increasingly used. The most commonly used techniques for statistical modelling are reviewed with focus on the important distinction of risk versus prediction. The final section provides examples of common problems with reporting observational data., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2019. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: The role of catheter ablation as an adjunct and alternative to ICD implantation is not known in patients at risk for recurrent ventricular tachycardia (VT) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) across Asia. Patients with nonischemic etiologies of cardiomyopathy, which are highly prevalent in Asia, have not been previously enrolled in randomized trials of VT ablation., Objective: To evaluate whether preemptive catheter ablation in patients with monomorphic VT and an indication for ICD implantation results in improved clinical outcomes compared to ICD implantation with standard medical therapy alone. To examine the natural history of ablation outcomes in the absence of background ICD therapy in patients that refuse randomization., Methods: The PAUSE-SCD study (NCT02848781) is a prospective, multi-center, randomized controlled trial enrolling patients with structural heart disease (EF < 50%) with an indication for ICD implantation. Patients are randomized in a 1:1 fashion to two treatment arms: ICD with ablation and ICD with standard medical therapy alone. A prospective registry cohort was designed to follow the outcomes of patients who refuse ICD and randomization but elect to receive catheter ablation as primary therapy. The primary endpoint is defined as a composite of recurrent VT, cardiovascular rehospitalization, and death. Pre-specified secondary endpoints include each of the individual components of the primary endpoint in addition to comparison between randomized and registry patients., Conclusion: The PAUSE-SCD study is a prospective, multi-center, randomized, and controlled trial examining the impact of preemptive catheter ablation on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with an indication for ICD at risk for recurrent VT and SCD. It represents the first multi-center VT ablation study in Asia, with a design intended to provide insights into the role of both ICD and ablation therapy in a predominantly nonischemic population.

The primary aims of this study were (i) a replication of the effectiveness and tolerability of risperidone in the treatment of patients with acute mania in a very large cohort in a naturalistic treatment setting and (ii) to extend the data on the effect and tolerability of risperidone in the treatment of patients with acute mania to an Asian population. A total of 909 patients fulfilling DSM-IV criteria of bipolar disorder (current manic and hypomanic episode) entered this large, open, multicentre study. The Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Clinical Global Impression (CGI) and Simpson-Angus Rating Scale (SARS) were measured at baseline and weeks 1, 3 and 6, for the assessment of effectiveness and extrapyramidal symptoms. This study showed a statistically significant reduction of scores on the YMRS and CGI-severity (mean change=-23.5+/-11.8, P<0.0001; mean change=-2.7+/-1.5, P<0.0001, respectively) from baseline to endpoint (week 6). The number of patients with a 50% reduction or more in the YMRS and CGI-severity scores was 693 (77.8%) and 630 (70.7%) at endpoint, respectively. There were no statistically significant increments of scores on SARS. Risperidone was generally well tolerated. The present larger open study indicates that risperidone add-on therapy is effective and tolerable in treatment of bipolar disorder, replicating results in various controlled and uncontrolled studies from Western countries.