Ablation versus medication as initial therapy for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: An updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) suggest that ablation is superior to antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) as an initial therapy for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (pAF) to prevent arrhythmia recurrences. We performed an updated meta-analysis of RCTs, to include recent data from cryoballoon-based ablation and to compare arrhythmia-free survival and adverse events between ablation and AADs.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE from inception to December 2020. We included RCT comparing patients with pAF undergoing ablation or receiving AADs as an initial therapy. We combined data using the random-effects model to calculate hazards ratio (HR) for arrhythmia-free survival and odds ratio (OR) for adverse events.

Results

Five studies from 2005 to 2020 involvin

SUBMITTER: Kewcharoen J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8637078 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature