CartoXP Guided Catheter Ablation for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation Without Three-dimensional Modeling of Left Atrium and Pulmonary Veins

Objectives This study was to investigate the differences between modeling and non-modeling left atrium （LA） in CartoXP system guided catheter ablation for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation （PAF）. Methods From Jan to Dec in 2008 total 31 cases with PAF were enrolled. All were treated by the same electrophysiologist with CartoXP guidance. Catheter ablation was accomplished without left atrium and pulmonary veins modeling in 17 patients （non-modeling group） and with left atrium modeling in 14 patients （modeling group）. The detailed ablation method was based on circumferential pulmonary veins isolation （CPVI）. And linear ablation of tricuspid valvular isthmus was performed individually. The ablation endpoint was a complete isolation of pulmonary vein potential from left atrium and no further induced continuous fast atrial arrhythmia including atrial fibrillation （AF）, atrial flutter （AFL） and atrial tachycardia （AT）. Each step for the procedures and the follow-up outcomes were compared correspondingly. Results The total procedure time was 107.23 ± 28.92 min in modeling group vs 93.47 ±26.09 min in non-modeling group （ P 〉 0.05 ）. The X-ray exposure time was significantly longer in modeling group （21.09 ±6. 49 rain） than in non-modeling group （14. 16 ± 5.35 min）. The CPVI times of right pulmonary veins and left pulmonary veins were 28. 14 ± 9. 26 min was 27.29 ± 18.53 min in modeling group respectively, vs 18.00 ±4. 51 min and 23.94 ± 7. 10 min in non-modeling group respectively, （P 〈 0. 05 ）. There is no significant difference between modeling group （85.7%） and non-modeling group （82.4%） over follow-up period of 2 to 13 months. Confusions CartoXP system guided catheter ablation of PAF without modeling of left atrium and pulmonary veins took less time in X-ray exposure and ablation steps, comparing with left atrium modeling procedure.