Patients
Baseline characteristics were presented previously.5In brief, age was 67.8 ± 11.6 in group A, 75.3 ± 7.2 in group B, 74.7 ±
8.0 in group C, and 74.0 ± 6.0 years old in group D. Females were 39%,
70%, 72%, and 0%, respectively.
CHA2DS2-VASc score was 2.4 ± 1.4, 3.6 ±
1.2, 3.3 ± 1.3, and 3.3 ± 1.0, and left atrial diameter was 37 ± 6, 40 ±
6, 38 ± 5, and 43 ± 6 mm, respectively.
Patient flow is shown in Figure 1. Patients enrolled in the VOLCANO
trial were followed for 25 (23,
31) months after the initial ablation. Among 402 patients in the trial,
104 (25.8%) patients developed AF/AT recurrence (Table 1). Ten (2.5%)
patients died during the follow-up period, of whom 6 developed AF/AT
recurrence before death. By group, 6 died in group A, 1 in group B, 2 in
group C, 1 in group D. Cause of death was heart failure in 3 patients,
stroke in 2, cancer in 2, and gastrointestinal perforation, trauma, and
unknown in 1 patient each.