There is limited evidence to suggest which ablation method was the best .
There is limited evidence to suggest that CA may be a better treatment option compared to medical therapies in the management of persistent AF .
This review was also unable to recommend the best CA method
BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation ( AF ) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia seen in cardiovascular departments .
Treatments include medical interventions and catheter ablation .
Due to uncertainties in medical therapies for AF , and the need to continue sinus rhythm , ablation has been recently considered as a viable alternative .
Many new ablation methods based on pulmonary vein isolation ( PVI ) have been developed .
OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this review was to assess the beneficial and harmful effects of  catheter ablation ( CA ) in comparison with medical treatment in patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF .
The secondary objective was to determine the best regimen of CA .
Influence of atrioventricular junction radiofrequency ablation in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation and flutter on quality of life and cardiac performance.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of atrioventricular junction radiofrequency ablation on the quality of life , exercise performance , and echocardiographic parameters in 23 patients with chronic , severely symptomatic , drug-refractory atrial fibrillation or flutter . Initially , patients were r and omized to receive ablation plus pacemaker therapy ( n = 12 ) or pacemaker therapy alone ( n = 11 ) . After 15 days , palpitations decreased by 92 % and 37 % ( p = 0.004 ) , rest dyspnea by 79 % and 40 % ( p = NS ) , effort dyspnea by 65 % and 30 % ( p = 0.03 ) , exercise intolerance by 54 % and 17 % ( p = 0.005 ) , and asthenia by 67 % and 31 % ( p = 0.02 ) in the 2 groups , respectively . At the end of this short-term study , control patients also underwent ablation therapy , and a 3-month intrapatient follow-up study was performed in 22 patients . New York Heart Association functional class > or = 3 was present in 14 patients ( 64 % ) before , but in only 3 patients ( 14 % ) after ablation therapy ( p = 0.002 ) ; specific activity scale functional class > or = 3 was present in 9 patients ( 41 % ) before , but in only 5 ( 23 % ) after ablation therapy ( p = NS ) . Exercise duration during st and ardized stress testing increased by a mean of 63 + /- 93 seconds ( 15 % increase ) ( p = 0.001 ) . In the 9 patients with depressed left ventricular systolic function , echocardiographic fractional shortening increased by 34 % ( from 23 + /- 5 % to 31 + /- 9 % ) ( p = 0.003 ) . In the remaining 13 patients with normal systolic function , fractional shortening decreased by 10 % ( from 40 + /- 5 % to 36 + /- 6 % ) ( p = 0.05 ) . ( ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS
There is limited evidence to suggest which ablation method was the best .
There is limited evidence to suggest that CA may be a better treatment option compared to medical therapies in the management of persistent AF .
This review was also unable to recommend the best CA method
BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation ( AF ) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia seen in cardiovascular departments .
Treatments include medical interventions and catheter ablation .
Due to uncertainties in medical therapies for AF , and the need to continue sinus rhythm , ablation has been recently considered as a viable alternative .
Many new ablation methods based on pulmonary vein isolation ( PVI ) have been developed .
OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this review was to assess the beneficial and harmful effects of  catheter ablation ( CA ) in comparison with medical treatment in patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF .
The secondary objective was to determine the best regimen of CA .