Atrial Fibrillation: Ablation or Surgical Treatment II: FAST II

NCT ID: NCT01336075

Last Updated: 2014-01-03

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

TERMINATED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

26 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2011-04-30

Study Completion Date

2013-12-31

Brief Summary

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The purpose of this study is to compare two invasive treatments of symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: Percutaneous radiofrequency catheter ablation and mini invasive thoracoscopic radiofrequency ablation in patients referred for a first time invasive treatment for atrial fibrillation.

The hypothesis is, that mini invasive thoracoscopic radiofrequency ablation as a first time invasive treatment is more effective compared to a percutaneous catheter based technique in patients with symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation refractory or intolerant to at least one antiarrhythmic drug.

Detailed Description

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Atrial fibrillation is characterized by disorganized, rapid, and irregular contraction of the atria. Its effects on hemodynamic and thromboembolic events result in significant morbidity, mortality, impaired quality of life, hospitalizations, and health-cost.

It is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. Over six million Europeans suffer from this arrhythmia. The prevalence is estimated to at least double in the next 50 years and is probably underestimated due to asymptomatic atrial fibrillation. The prevalence increases with age and affects men more often.

Atrial fibrillation is treated medically with varying results and there are no definitive long term curative treatments. The main goal aims at reducing symptoms and preventing disabling complications. Treatment normally includes antithrombotic, rhythm, and/or rate management, New non-pharmacological interventions have evolved over the last decades in order to prevent paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and/or reduce symptoms. The main focus of non-pharmacological intervention has been on percutaneous radiofrequency catheter ablation and surgical maze ablation. Both approaches aim at minimizing the impact of "triggers" from the pulmonary veins by electrical isolation of the veins.

Studies comparing antiarrhythmic drug and radiofrequency ablation indicate that radiofrequency ablation has a higher efficacy rate, a lower rate of complications, and in selected patients radiofrequency ablation reduced the risk of atrial fibrillation recurrence after one year by 65 % compared with antiarrhythmic drug. In a recently published paper the success rate after a mean of 1.3 radiofrequency ablation procedures per patient varied from 57.7% to 75.4% with higher success rates in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation as compared to persistent/permanent atrial fibrillation.

European Society of Cardiology recommends that radiofrequency ablation is reserved for patients who remain symptomatic despite optimal therapy and failed at least one antiarrhythmic drug.

Dr. James Cox introduced the Cox-maze surgical operation for atrial fibrillation in 1987, later modified to Cox-maze III also known as the "cut and sew" maze. It is highly successful in restoring sinus rhythm, with 90-96 % being free from atrial fibrillation at a mean follow-up of 5.4 years. Due to its complexity and technical difficulty the procedure has not been widely adopted. Mini invasive procedures for pulmonary vein isolation have been developed and can now be performed either through mini thoracotomies or using totally thoracoscopic approach. These procedures also hold the advantage of left atrial appendage excision or exclusion. The thoracoscopic maze ablation has shown promising results in small studies in patients with recurrence of atrial fibrillation after earlier catheter based radiofrequency ablation, after a mean follow-up of 11 months 84 % of the patients remain in sinus rhythm. However long-term results are still unknown. The procedure still needs to be compared head to head with catheter based radiofrequency ablation before it should be offered as a standard treatment of atrial fibrillation.

The rationale for eliminating atrial fibrillation with radiofrequency ablation include a potential improvement in quality of life, decreased stroke risk, decreased heart failure risk and improved survival.

Conditions

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Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation.

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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Mini invasive thoracoscopic radiofrequency ablation

Video-assisted thoracoscopic radiofrequency ablation

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Mini invasive thoracoscopic radiofrequency ablation

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Video-assisted thoracoscopic approach for electrical isolation of the pulmonary veins bilaterally and left atrial appendage excision or exclusion.

Percutaneous ablation

Percutaneous radiofrequency catheter ablation

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Percutaneous radiofrequency catheter ablation

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Percutaneous radiofrequency catheter ablation around the rights and lefts pulmonary veins, with complete circumferential ablation.

Interventions

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Percutaneous radiofrequency catheter ablation

Percutaneous radiofrequency catheter ablation around the rights and lefts pulmonary veins, with complete circumferential ablation.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Mini invasive thoracoscopic radiofrequency ablation

Video-assisted thoracoscopic approach for electrical isolation of the pulmonary veins bilaterally and left atrial appendage excision or exclusion.

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Other Intervention Names

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Radiofrequency ablation Catheter ablation Atrial fibrillation ablation Mini invasive mini maze

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Recurrent symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation
* Previously failed one or more antiarrhythmic or beta-blocker medication (treatment \> 30 days) or if any contraindications against treatment with these drug.
* Patient is willing and able to attend the scheduled follow-up visits
* Signed informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

* Persistent or permanent atrial fibrillation
* Previously atrial fibrillation ablation procedure
* Atrial fibrillation secondary to electrolyte imbalance, thyroid disease, or reversible or non-cardiac cause
* Severe underlying heart disease (congenital heart disease, significant valvular disease, cardiomyopathy with LVEF \< 35 %, angina pectoris/ ischemic heart disease).
* Severe enlargement of left atrium (\> 45mm)
* Patient with pacemaker
* Failure to obtain informed consent
* Pregnant or breastfeeding women.
* Patient unable to undergo TEE or with documented left atrial thrombus
* Patients with co-morbid conditions who, in the opinion of the investigator, constitute increased risk of general anesthesia or port access, e.g. pleural fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (FEV1 \< 1.5 L/s).
* Known internal carotid artery stenosis (\> 80 %).
* Patients, who are enrolled in another clinical trial
* Life expectancy less than one year
* Previously TIA/stroke
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

75 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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St. Antonius Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Odense University Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Aalborg University Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Henrik Vadmann, MD, Ph.d student.

MD, Ph.D. student

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Henrik Vadmann, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Aalborg University Hospital

Sam Riahi, MD, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Aalborg University Hospital

Jan Jesper Andreasen, MD, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Aalborg University Hospital

Søren Hjortshøj, MD, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Aalborg University Hospital

Alaaddin Yilmaz, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

St. Antonius Hospital

Lucas Boersma, MD, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

St. Antonius Hospital

Axel Brandes, MD, FESC

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Odense Universityhospital

Peter Pallesen, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Odense Universityhospital

Locations

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Dept of Cardiothoracic surgery and Dept of Cardiology, Aalborg Hospital

Aalborg, , Denmark

Site Status

Odense Universityhospital

Odense, , Denmark

Site Status

St. Antonius Hospital

Nieuwegein, , Netherlands

Site Status

Countries

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Denmark Netherlands

References

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Camm AJ, Kirchhof P, Lip GY, Schotten U, Savelieva I, Ernst S, Van Gelder IC, Al-Attar N, Hindricks G, Prendergast B, Heidbuchel H, Alfieri O, Angelini A, Atar D, Colonna P, De Caterina R, De Sutter J, Goette A, Gorenek B, Heldal M, Hohloser SH, Kolh P, Le Heuzey JY, Ponikowski P, Rutten FH; ESC Committee for Practice Guidelines. Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation: the Task Force for the Management of Atrial Fibrillation of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Europace. 2010 Oct;12(10):1360-420. doi: 10.1093/europace/euq350. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 20876603 (View on PubMed)

Yilmaz A, Geuzebroek GS, Van Putte BP, Boersma LV, Sonker U, De Bakker JM, Van Boven WJ. Completely thoracoscopic pulmonary vein isolation with ganglionic plexus ablation and left atrial appendage amputation for treatment of atrial fibrillation. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2010 Sep;38(3):356-60. doi: 10.1016/j.ejcts.2010.01.058. Epub 2010 Mar 12.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 20227287 (View on PubMed)

Nair GM, Nery PB, Diwakaramenon S, Healey JS, Connolly SJ, Morillo CA. A systematic review of randomized trials comparing radiofrequency ablation with antiarrhythmic medications in patients with atrial fibrillation. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 2009 Feb;20(2):138-44. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-8167.2008.01285.x. Epub 2008 Sep 3.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 18775040 (View on PubMed)

Lafuente-Lafuente C, Mouly S, Longas-Tejero MA, Bergmann JF. Antiarrhythmics for maintaining sinus rhythm after cardioversion of atrial fibrillation. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD005049. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD005049.pub2.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 17943835 (View on PubMed)

Schilling RJ. Cardioversion of atrial fibrillation: the use of antiarrhythmic drugs. Heart. 2010 Mar;96(5):333-8. doi: 10.1136/hrt.2008.155812. Epub 2009 Nov 11.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19910286 (View on PubMed)

Calkins H, Reynolds MR, Spector P, Sondhi M, Xu Y, Martin A, Williams CJ, Sledge I. Treatment of atrial fibrillation with antiarrhythmic drugs or radiofrequency ablation: two systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2009 Aug;2(4):349-61. doi: 10.1161/CIRCEP.108.824789. Epub 2009 Jun 2.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19808490 (View on PubMed)

Cappato R, Calkins H, Chen SA, Davies W, Iesaka Y, Kalman J, Kim YH, Klein G, Natale A, Packer D, Skanes A, Ambrogi F, Biganzoli E. Updated worldwide survey on the methods, efficacy, and safety of catheter ablation for human atrial fibrillation. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2010 Feb;3(1):32-8. doi: 10.1161/CIRCEP.109.859116. Epub 2009 Dec 7.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19995881 (View on PubMed)

Cox JL. Cardiac surgery for arrhythmias. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 2004 Feb;15(2):250-62. doi: 10.1046/j.1540-8167.2004.03656.x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15028063 (View on PubMed)

Gaynor SL, Diodato MD, Prasad SM, Ishii Y, Schuessler RB, Bailey MS, Damiano NR, Bloch JB, Moon MR, Damiano RJ Jr. A prospective, single-center clinical trial of a modified Cox maze procedure with bipolar radiofrequency ablation. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2004 Oct;128(4):535-42. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2004.02.044.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 15457154 (View on PubMed)

Shen J, Bailey M, Damiano RJ Jr. Surgery for Lone Atrial Fibrillation: Present State-of-the-Art. Innovations (Phila). 2009 Oct;4(5):248-255. doi: 10.1097/IMI.0b013e3181bb370f.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 20473355 (View on PubMed)

Sindby JE, Vadmann H, Lundbye-Christensen S, Riahi S, Hjortshoj S, Boersma LVA, Andreasen JJ. Percutaneous versus thoracoscopic ablation of symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: a randomised controlled trial - the FAST II study. J Cardiothorac Surg. 2018 Oct 3;13(1):101. doi: 10.1186/s13019-018-0792-8.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 30285795 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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FAST II

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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