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Early recurrences of atrial fibrillation (AF) after ablation are relatively common and have been thought to be due to inflammation related to the procedure. Thus, investigators in clinical trials excluded them with a “blanking” period of 3 months. The prevailing opinion was that arrhythmias during the blanking period were not important and did not signify a worse long-term prognosis. To learn more, researchers in South Korea retrospectively analyzed a single center's database of 3120 patients who had undergone radiofrequency catheter AF ablation (79% men; paroxysmal AF, 59%).
Early recurrence of atrial arrhythmia was defined as an episode lasting >30 seconds within 90 days after ablation. During the blanking period, 24% of patients had atria…