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Aim: To report the Italian data deriving from the European Society of Cardiology-EURObservational Research Program atrial fibrillation ablation long-term registry., Methods and Results: Ten Italian centers enrolled up to 50 consecutive patients undergoing atrial fibrillation ablation. Of the 318 patients included, 5 (1.6%) did not undergo catheter ablation, 1 had ablation partially done and 62 were lost at 1-year follow-up. Women were less represented (23.6%) and the median age was 60.0 years. A total of 195 patients (62.3%) suffered paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, whereas only 9 (2.9%) had long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation. Most Italian patients (92.3%) were symptomatic but suffering fewer symptomatic events than patients enrolled in other countries (median of two events in the month preceding the ablation vs. three, respectively; P < 0.0001). The main finding of the study is that the success rate at 1 year, with and without antiarrhythmic drugs, was 76.4%, consistently with other participating countries (73.4%). This result was obtained however, with a significantly lower prevalence of 1-year adverse events (7.3 vs. 16.6%, P < 0.0001). Procedure duration and fluoroscopy total time resulted as being shorter in Italy (145 vs. 160, P = 0.0005 and 16.9 vs. 20.0 min, P = 0.0018, respectively); however, the radiation dose per BSA was greater (37.5 vs. 26.0 mGy/cm, P = 0.0022)., Conclusion: The demographic characteristics of patients undergoing atrial fibrillation ablation are similar to those reported in other countries. The success rate in Italy is consistent with those in other countries, whereas the complications rate is lower.

Background: Patients with a high ventricular rate during atrial fibrillation (AF) are at increased risk of receiving inappropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator shocks. The objective was to demonstrate the feasibility of high frequency atrioventricular-nodal stimulation (AVNS) to reduce the ventricular rate during AF to prevent inappropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator shocks., Methods and Results: Patients with a new atrial lead placement as part of a cardiac resynchronization therapy and defibrillator implant and a history of paroxysmal or persistent AF were eligible. If proper atrial lead position was confirmed, AVNS software was uploaded to the cardiac resynchronization therapy device, tested, and optimized. AVNS was delivered via a right atrial pacing lead positioned in the posterior right atrium. Software allowed initiation of high frequency bursts triggered on rapidly conducted AF. Importantly, the efficacy was evaluated during spontaneous AF episodes between 1 and 6 months after implant. Forty-four patients were enrolled in 4 centers. Successful atrial lead placement occurred in 74%. Median implant time of the AVNS lead was 37 minutes. In 26 (81%) patients, manual AVNS tests increased the ventricular interval by >25%. Between 1 and 6 months, automatic AVNS activations occurred in 4 patients with rapidly conducted AF, and in 3 patients, AVNS slowed the ventricular rate out of the implantable cardioverter defibrillator shock zone. No adverse events were associated with the AVNS software., Conclusions: The present study demonstrated the feasibility of implementation of AVNS in a cardiac resynchronization therapy and defibrillator system. AVNS increased ventricular interval >25% in 81% of patients. AVNS did not influence the safety profile of the cardiac resynchronization therapy and defibrillator system., Clinical Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov; Unique Identifier: NCT01095952., (© 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.)