Introduction: This study intended to assess the long term outcome of remote magnetic catheter navigation (RMN) in comparison to manual catheter navigation (MCN) for ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF).
Methods: 140 patients (96 men, mean age 58.2±10.2 years; 70 in each group) were included in this case-control study. Patients were matched for age, gender and type of AF. Patients were followed up with 7-day continuous Holter ECG recordings immediately post-interventionally, after 3 and 6 months and on a 6-month basis thereafter. Any atrial arrhythmia episode longer than 30 sec was reported as recurrence.
Results: Mean follow up after the index procedure was 28.8±18.9 months. 40% and 59.1% of patients in RMN and MCN groups, respectively, remained free of AF recurrence (p=0.031) (Figure).
Conclusions: Fewer patients in RMN group experienced freedom from AF during long term follow up compared to MCN using steerable sheath. Randomized studies are warranted to further clarify this issue.