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Aims: To compare the procedural outcomes of cryoballoon ablation (CBA) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients with the common ostium of inferior pulmonary veins (COIPV) and to explore the effect of COIPV on CBA performance through the assessment of anatomical factors.Methods: A total of 18 AF patients with COIPV were included. Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) was performed with second-generation CBA or RFA. The anatomical characteristics of COIPV and procedural outcomes were collected.Results: The prevalence of COIPV was 0.82% in the enrolled population. PVI was achieved in all pulmonary veins (PVs) without any complications. The “tricircle” strategy was applied for RFA, and the segmental freeze strategy was performed for CBA. Compared with RFA, CBA had shorter procedural time (median: 53.0 vs. 78.0 min, p < 0.001) and longer fluoroscopy time (median: 13.5 vs. 6.0 min, p < 0.001). Higher ovality index of the ostium was seen in patients with ≥4 freezes in inferior PVs [IPVs; 0.95 (0.78–1.05) vs. 0.49 (0.21–0.83), p = 0.047]. During a median of 23.5 months of follow-up, the atrial arrhythmias-free survival after the procedure was comparable between CBA and RFA (p = 0.729).Conclusion: The second-generation CBA is an efficient and safe alternative for RFA in AF patients with COIPV. Anatomical characteristics of COIPV bring the challenge to the procedure performance of RFA and CBA.

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a generally acknowledged turning-point of the natural history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM); however, data from the cryoballoon ablation (CBA) for AF in HCM patients are relatively scarce. The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CBA in HCM patients with AF. Methods We retrospectively analyzed HCM patients among 1253 patients with symptomatic AF who underwent CBA for pulmonary vein isolation in a single center. The study analyzed the AF recurrence and assessed the CBA indexes, including nadir temperature, time-to-isolation, CBA failure, pulmonary vein potentials (PVPs), and redo procedure. Results A total of 108 patients were included (mean age: 59.0 ± 6.9 years), 27 patients (25%) had HCM, with the median follow-up duration of 25.5 months. The one-year AF-free rates were 79.0% vs. 63.0% (non-HCM vs. HCM), while the two-year AF-free rates were 77.8% vs. 55.1% [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.758, log-rank P = 0.024]. Patients with persistent AF had poor AF-free rates compared to those with paroxysmal AF (P < 0.001). The CBA failure was the most common in the right inferior pulmonary veins, which had the lowest PVPs. Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that HCM and persistent AF were risk factors for AF recurrence (HR = 2.74, 95% CI: 1.29–5.79, P = 0.008; and HR = 3.97, 95% CI: 1.85–8.54, P < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions The CBA can be effectively and safely used to treat HCM patients with symptomatic AF. The freedom from AF for HCM patients after CBA is relatively low compared to that for non-HCM patients.