A Randomised Study Comparing Pulmonary Vein Isolation Using the Occluding Cryoballoon, Conventional Radiofrequency Energy, or Both in the Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (AF).

Pulmonary vein isolation is an important treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), particularly those in whom antiarrhythmic drugs are ineffective or cannot be tolerated. One method involves the use of radiofrequency energy and 3-D mapping system to produce a series of lesions (small burn areas) within the heart. Another method involves passing a balloon (called a cryoballoon) into the heart and freezing the parts of the heart muscle that the veins drain into. Both methods appear to be effective from known data. However, it is not known if use of either method alone or both together is the most effective. We aim to perform a prospective, randomized clinical trial comparing these three strategies.

Substudy 1: Use of cardiac MRI to evaluate ablation lesions. Some patients will also be asked to undergo an MRI scan of the heart before the ablation procedure, and again at three months and one year following the procedure. This will allow us to examine the potential role for MRI in imaging scar tissue formed by the ablation, and help us understand the time course of scar formation and changes to that part of the heart following the ablation.

Substudy 2: Platelet reactivity and activation in AF, and the impact of curative ablation. Blood and urine samples will be taken pre- and 3 months post ablation to see if platelet reactivity and activation are affected by AF compared to established normal ranges, and whether curative ablation impacts on this.