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Our investigations identified sprouts as the most likely outbreak vehicle, underlining the need to take into account food items that may be overlooked during subjects' recall of consumption.

Background-Radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) guided by complex fractionated atrial electrograms has been reported to eliminate AF in a large proportion of patients. However, only a small number of patients with chronic AF have been included in previous studies. Methods and Results-In 100 patients (mean age, 57Ϯ11 years) with chronic AF, radiofrequency ablation was performed to target complex fractionated atrial electrograms at the pulmonary vein ostial and antral areas, various regions of the left atrium, and the coronary sinus until AF terminated or all identified complex fractionated atrial electrograms were eliminated. Ablation sites consisted of Ն1 pulmonary vein in 46% of patients; the left atrial septum, roof, or anterior wall in all; and the coronary sinus in 55%. During 14Ϯ7 months of follow-up after a single ablation procedure, 33% of patients were in sinus rhythm without antiarrhythmic drugs, 38% had AF, 17% had both AF and atrial flutter, 9% had persistent atrial flutter, and 3% had paroxysmal AF on antiarrhythmic drugs. A second ablation procedure was performed in 44% of patients. Pulmonary vein tachycardia was found in all patients in both previously targeted and nontargeted pulmonary veins. There were multiple macroreentrant circuits in the majority of patients with atrial flutter. At 13Ϯ7 months after the last ablation procedure, 57% of patients were in sinus rhythm without antiarrhythmic drugs, 32% had persistent AF, 6% had paroxysmal AF, and 5% had atrial flutter. Conclusions-Modest short-term efficacy is achievable with radiofrequency ablation of chronic AF guided by complex fractionated atrial electrograms, but only after a second ablation procedure in Ͼ40% of patients. Rapid activity in the pulmonary veins and multiple macroreentrant circuits are common mechanisms of recurrent atrial arrhythmias. (Circulation.

Up to 2 h of additional ablation of CFAEs after APVI does not appear to improve clinical outcomes in patients with long-lasting persistent AF.

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Basel Cardiovascular Research Foundation, and B Braun Medical AG.

AimsThe primary safety and efficacy endpoints of the randomized FIRE AND ICE trial have recently demonstrated non-inferiority of cryoballoon vs. radiofrequency current (RFC) catheter ablation in patients with drug-refractory symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of the current study was to assess outcome parameters that are important for the daily clinical management of patients using key secondary analyses. Specifically, reinterventions, rehospitalizations, and quality-of-life were examined in this randomized trial of cryoballoon vs. RFC catheter ablation.Methods and resultsPatients (374 subjects in the cryoballoon group and 376 subjects in the RFC group) were evaluated in the modified intention-to-treat cohort. After the index ablation, log-rank testing over 1000 days of follow-up demonstrated that there were statistically significant differences in favour of cryoballoon ablation with respect to repeat ablations (11.8% cryoballoon vs. 17.6% RFC; P = 0.03), direct-current cardioversions (3.2% cryoballoon vs. 6.4% RFC; P = 0.04), all-cause rehospitalizations (32.6% cryoballoon vs. 41.5% RFC; P = 0.01), and cardiovascular rehospitalizations (23.8% cryoballoon vs. 35.9% RFC; P < 0.01). There were no statistical differences between groups in the quality-of-life surveys (both mental and physical) as measured by the Short Form-12 health survey and the EuroQol five-dimension questionnaire. There was an improvement in both mental and physical quality-of-life in all patients that began at 6 months after the index ablation and was maintained throughout the 30 months of follow-up.ConclusionPatients treated with cryoballoon as opposed to RFC ablation had significantly fewer repeat ablations, direct-current cardioversions, all-cause rehospitalizations, and cardiovascular rehospitalizations during follow-up. Both patient groups improved in quality-of-life scores after AF ablation.Clinical trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01490814.

OSA is a predictor of recurrent AF after RFA independent of its association with BMI and left atrial size. Obesity does not appear to affect outcomes after radiofrequency catheter ablation of AF.

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