Recurrences in the Blanking Period and 12‐Month Success Rate by Continuous Cardiac Monitoring After Cryoablation of Paroxysmal and Non‐Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

Early and Late Recurrences in AF Cryoablation Introduction Recurrences within the blanking period (early recurrences) are common after atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation by pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), but their clinical significance is still controversial. We aimed at evaluating the significance of within‐blanking recurrences at 12‐month follow‐up after cryoballoon (CB) PVI, and to assess the real procedural success rate by continuous monitoring of cardiac rhythm. Methods and Results Sixty consecutive AF patients (34 paroxysmal, 56.7%) underwent their first CB‐PVI at one Italian center (May 2013 to April 2015), and subsequent implantation of an implantable loop recorder (ILR). Overall, 12‐month success rate after the blanking period was 55%. The shortest detected event was 7 minutes long. Late recurrences were more frequent in non‐paroxysmal (19/26, 73.1%) than in paroxysmal AF (8/34, 23.5%; P