ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the impact of vagal denervation (VD) that is derived from circumferential ablation of pulmonary vein ostium for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) on the therapeutic results. Methods A total of 50 patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation were enrolled in this study. Circumferential ablation of pulmonary vein ostium was carried out in all the patients. The end point of ablation was pulmonary vein electricity isolation. The patients in whom VD occurred during the performance of ablation were regarded as VD- positive group (n = 19), and the remaining patients were used as VD- negative group (n = 31). The recurrence rate of AF six months after the treatment was recorded, and the results were compared between the two groups. Results The end point of ablation was successfully achieved in all the fifty cases. Six months after the ablation, the therapeutic effect of VD- positive group was significantly better than that of VD- negative group (84.21% vs 64.51%, P ≤ 0.05). Conclusion The vagal denervation effect that is derived from circumferential ablation of pulmonary vein ostium in treating AF can significantly increase the success rate of radiofrequency ablation for AF.