The feasibility of atrial Fibrillatory wave amplitude in predicting ablation outcomes in persistent atrial fibrillation

Background

Atrial fibrosis has a significant impact on the success rate of catheter ablation (CA) treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). The fibrotic tissues could be reflected by the amplitude of the fibrillatory wave (F-wave).

Methods and Results

704 patients with persistent AF and at least 1-year follow-up after CA were included as the internal group. 101 patients from another hospital were used as the external validation cohort. A 12‑lead ECG was performed before CA and the maximum FWA in three ECG leads (aVL, aVF, V1) were measured. The FWA score (0 to 6 points according to the amplitude range of the three leads) of each patients was calculated. Five models including clinical features, FWA score, CHA2DS2-VASc score, APPLE score and the fusion of clinical features and FWA score were built. The FWA score was superior to the model constructed by clinical variables, CHA2DS2-VASc score and APPLE score. It not only had good predictive performance for AF recurrence, with an AUC value of 0.812 (95% CI 0.724–0.900), but also showed a significant predictive value for the recurrence rate according to F-wave amplitude. In the external validation cohort, the FWA score showed similar results (AUC 0.768, 95% CI 0.672–0.865).

Conclusions

The present study reveals the significant predictive value of the FWA score for persistent AF ablation recurrence.