Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital investigated whether outcomes can be improved by also treating areas in the heart’s left atrium that show signs of fibrosis or scarring. These areas are identified as so-called low-voltage zones, where the electrical signal is weaker than in healthy heart tissue.
The study was conducted at five Swedish hospitals and included 209 patients with persistent atrial fibrillation and clearly defined low-voltage zones in the left atrium. Participants were randomly assigned to either standard treatment with pulmonary vein isolation or pulmonary vein isolation combined with targeted treatment of the low-voltage zones. The patients were followed for 12 months.