evaluation of visitag surpoint™ module with external processing unit (epu)

Conditions: Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

Summary: prospective, non-randomized, post market clinical evaluation of the visitag surpoint™ module with external processing unit (epu) when used with stsf catheter and st catheter compared to an historical control performance goal. a maximum of 330 subjects will be enrolled across up to 45 sites. two hundred eighty (280) enrolled subjects will be treated using the stsf catheter with epu and 50 subjects will be treated using the st catheter with epu. prior to enrollment, a few sites will be selected to only enroll subjects who will be treated with the st catheter and the remaining sites will only enroll subjects who will be treated with the stsf catheter. bayesian adaptive design will be used to assess early success at up to two interims: one after all subjects have completed the 3- month follow-up assessment, and a second to occur after all subjects have completed the 6 months follow-up visit.

prospective, non-randomized, post market clinical evaluation of the visitag surpoint™ module with external processing unit (epu) when used with stsf catheter and st catheter compared to an historical control performance goal. a maximum of 330 subjects will be enrolled across up to 45 sites. two hundred eighty (280) enrolled subjects will be treated using the stsf catheter with epu and 50 subjects will be treated using the st catheter with epu. prior to enrollment, a few sites will be selected to only enroll subjects who will be treated with the st catheter and the remaining sites will only enroll subjects who will be treated with the stsf catheter. bayesian adaptive design will be used to assess early success at up to two interims: one after all subjects have completed the 3- month follow-up assessment, and a second to occur after all subjects have completed the 6 months follow-up visit. the primary objective of this clinical investigation is to demonstrate the safety and 12-month effectiveness of tag index-guided ablation using the visitag surpoint™ module with external processing unit when used with the thermocool smarttouch® sf (stsf) and thermocool smarttouch® (st) catheters for pulmonary vein isolation (pvi) in the treatment of subjects with drug refractory symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. specifically: * to demonstrate the safety based on the proportion of subjects with early-onset (within 7 days of ablation procedure) primary adverse events * to demonstrate the 12-month effectiveness based on the proportion of subject with freedom from documented atrial arrhythmia (atrial fibrillation (af), atrial tachycardia (at) or atrial flutter (afl) episodes during the effectiveness evaluation period (day 91-365)

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: subjects must meet all of the following inclusion criteria to be eligible for participation in this study: 1. symptomatic paroxysmal af who had at least one af episode electrocardiographically documented within one (1) year prior to enrollment. documentation may include electrocardiogram (ecg); transtelephonic monitoring (ttm), holter monitor or telemetry strip 2. failed at least one antiarrhythmic drug (aad) (class i or iii antiarrhythmic drugs) as evidenced by recurrent symptomatic af, or intolerable to the aad 3. age 18 years or older 4. signed patient informed consent form (icf) 5. able and willing to comply with all pre-, post-, and follow-up testing and requirements exclusion criteria: subjects who meet any of the following exclusion criteria are not eligible for enrollment. 1. previous surgical or catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation 2. previous cardiac surgery (including cabg) within the past 6 months (180 days) 3. valvular cardiac surgical/percutaneous procedure (i.e., ventriculotomy, atriotomy, and valve repair or replacement and presence of a prosthetic valve) 4. any carotid stenting or endarterectomy 5. documented la thrombus on imaging 6. la size \> 50 mm (parasternal long axis view) 7. lvef \< 40% 8. contraindication to anticoagulation (heparin or warfarin) 9. history of blood clotting or bleeding abnormalities 10. pci/mi within the past 2 months (60 days) 11. documented thromboembolic event (including tia) within the past 12 months (365 days) 12. rheumatic heart disease 13. uncontrolled heart failure or nyha function class iii or iv 14. severe mitral regurgitation (regurgitant volume ≥ 60 ml/beat, regurgitant fraction ≥ 50%, and/or effective regurgitant orifice area ≥ 0.40cm2) 15. awaiting cardiac transplantation or other cardiac surgery within the next 12 months (365 days) 16. unstable angina 17. acute illness or active systemic infection or sepsis 18. af secondary to electrolyte imbalance, thyroid disease, or reversible or non-cardiac cause. 19. presence of implanted icd/crt-d. 20. significant pulmonary disease, (e.g., restrictive pulmonary disease, constrictive or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) or any other disease or malfunction of the lungs or respiratory system that produces chronic symptoms. 21. gastroesophageal reflux disease (gerd; active requiring significant intervention not including otc medication) 22. significant congenital anomaly or medical problem that in the opinion of the investigator would preclude enrollment in this study. 23. women who are pregnant (as evidenced by pregnancy test if pre-menopausal) 24. concurrent enrollment in an investigational study evaluating another device, biologic, or drug. 25. presence of intracardiac thrombus, myxoma, tumor, interatrial baffle or patch or other abnormality that precludes vascular access, or manipulation of the catheter. 26. life expectancy less than 12 months