Atrial fibrillation(AF) is the most common heart rhythm disturbance. It frequently co-exist with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction(HFpEF). Having HFpEF and AF is associated with worse prognosis compared to either condition alone. A minimally invasive procedure done through the groin called catheter ablation can help restore normal heart rhythm. We recently ran a world-first randomized trial which showed that ablation was better than medical therapy in reducing lung pressures, and improving exercise capacity. Furthermore ablation reversed HFpEF in a proportion of patients. However there is no randomized study examining cardiovascular outcomes from ablation in these patients. Hence this multi-centre randomized study is aimed at comparing catheter ablation versus medical therapy with regards to all cause death, heart failure events and patient quality of life outcomes. We expect this study to show the following: in patients with AF and HFpEF, catheter ablation is superior to medical therapy inimproving these clinically relevant outcomes.
Last updated12 March 2024