Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation in Patients by Pulmonary Vein Isolation in Combination With Renal Denervation or Pulmonary Vein Isolation Only

Overview

Prospective, randomized, controlled, multicenter, international clinical trial. The study population consist of patients with paroxysmal or persistent atrial fibrillation with out range hypertension or signs of sympathetic overdrive. Patient will be randomized into one of the following two groups. group 1 : patients will undergo pulmonary vein isolation, group 2: Patients will undergo pulmonary vein isolation and renal artery denervation.

The target group of patients are subjects ages \<65 years, with paroxysmal or persistent atrial fibrillation, who have out of range hypertension (systolic \>140 mmHg or \>130/80 mmHg in diabetics and patients with chronic renal disease) or signs of sympathetic overdrive. Patients should use at least 2 anti-hypertensive's or should be intolerant for antihypertensive medication. Atrial fibrillation terminology: If atrial fibrillation recurs more than once but terminates spontaneously within seven days, the term paroxysmal AF is used. This is also used when the episode is less than 48 hours in duration and is terminated with electrical or pharmacological cardioversion. Persistent AF is defined as recurrent AF that is sustained for more than seven days. A patient that is electrically or pharmacologically cardioverted after more than two days is also diagnosed with persistent AF. After the exclusion of apparent secondary causes of hypertension, patients will be randomized to one of the following interventional treatments: First arm: PVI (69 patients) Second arm: PVI + RDN (69 patients) The patient will be treated under conscious sedation or general anesthesia. The control group will consist of patients who undergo PVI alone. The study will be a randomized, controlled trial. The follow up period will be up to one year after the interventional therapy. Patients will be treated clinically and will have regular follow-up at the outpatient clinic of the hospital at which they were treated. If patients receive continuous loop recorders for cardiac rhythm monitoring, this data will be used for the study. The other patients will undergo Holter ECG monitoring at regular intervals during follow-up (at 3, 6 and 12 months after the interventional treatment). During follow-up, the first 3 months after the interventional treatment will be a blanking period, as is common in the ablative therapy of AF (ablations points need to heal, and paroxysms of AF in this period are not associated with therapy failure).