Loading...
Atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure often are concomitant processes, and treatment in this situation can be difficult. Whether rhythm control or rate control is best for such patients is debated: The AFFIRM trial showed no clear benefit from either approach, but patients with symptomatic AF were excluded from the trial (JW Cardiol Jun 4 2004). The definitive rhythm-control strategy consists of radiofrequency ablation with a pulmonary-vein isolation (PVI) approach, whereas the ultimate rate-control strategy entails atrioventricular (AV)-node ablation and pacing with a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) device. Now, investigators have evaluated these two strategies in an international, prospective, randomized controlled tria…