ACC.24 — We are joined by Dr Kengo Kusano (National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, JP) to discuss the findings from the Embo-Abl Study.
Embo-Abl is a multicenter prospective randomized study which aims to compare the incidence of periprocedural cerebral embolisms caused by catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) between cryoballoon and radiofrequency ablation. 230 patients with AF from a multicenter in Japan are included in this study, and were randomly assigned to either cryoballoon or radiofrequency ablation in a 1:1 fashion. The primary endpoint was the recurrence of MRI-detected silent cerebral events (SCE) 1-3 days after catheter ablation.
Findings showed that cryoballoon ablation demonstrated noninferiority as compared to radiofrequency ablation for the primary endpoint (risk difference, 4.18% [95% confidence interval, -4.18% to 12.5%]; P=0.02 for noninferiority). MES were higher with cryoballoon ablation as compared to radiofrequency ablation, however the number of MES, high-intensity transient signals and micro-bubbles during the cryoballoon ablation procedure were not associated with the incidence of cerebral embolisms.
Interview Questions:
- What is the background of this study
- What was the study design and patient population?
- What are the key findings?
- Was there anything in the results of the study that differed from your original expectations?
- What further study is needed?
Recorded on-site at ACC 2024, Atlanta.
For more content from ACC.24 head to the Late-breaking Science Video Collection.
Support: This is an independent interview conducted by Radcliffe Cardiology.
Editors: Jordan Rance, Mirjam Boros
Video Specialists: Dan Brent, Tom Green, Mike Knight
Comments