Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
These were atrial fibrillation patients with contraindications for
long-term anticoagulant treatment, and the CHA2DS2-VASC scores of the
patients included in this group were greater than or equal to 2.
Furthermore, all of these patients had previous multiple and failed
catheter ablations for persistent AF.
The exclusion criteria were as follows, patients with other cardiac
diseases should undergo elective heart surgery, such as CABG, valvular
surgeries. The FEV1 was still < 50% after pulmonary
functional exercise in patients with pulmonary dysfunction. Patients
with inner diameter of LA > 65mm, spontaneous development
of intracardiac thrombus, severe mitral valve lesions and pericardial
effusion > 3mm, life expectancy less than one year, low
risk of stroke or low risk of bleeding, taking warfarin for other
reasons, complex atherosclerotic plaques in the ascending aorta/aortic
arch, and who were in cardiac dysfunction were also excluded.