Project description:
Catheter ablation in patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation (AF) has been shown to reduce mortality. The role of AF ablation for patients with end-stage heart failure remained however unclear as these patients have been excluded from major trials. The randomized CASTLE-HTx (Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with End-Stage Heart Failure and Eligibility for Heart Transplantation) trial demonstrated that in patients with end-strage heart failure catheter ablation of AF was associated with a lower likelihood of a composite of death, implantation of a left ventricular assist device or urgent heart transplantation. Notably, only few minor adverse events were observed underlining the feasibility of AF ablation in these end-stage diseased patients. The CASTLE-HTx trial identified AF ablation as a promising treatment for patients with end-stage heart failure.
Publication:
Christian Sohns, M.D., Henrik Fox, M.D., Nassir F. Marrouche, M.D., Harry J.G.M. Crijns, M.D., Ph.D., Angelika Costard-Jaeckle, M.D., Leonard Bergau, M.D., Gerhard Hindricks, M.D., Nikolaos Dagres, M.D., Samuel Sossalla, M.D., Rene Schramm, M.D., Ph.D., Thomas Fink, M.D., Mustapha El Hamriti, M.D., Maximilian Moersdorf, M.D., Vanessa Sciacca, M.D., Frank Konietschke, Ph.D., Volker Rudolph, M.D., Jan Gummert, M.D., Jan G.P. Tijssen, Ph.D., and Philipp Sommer, M.D. for the CASTLE HTx Investigators. Catheter Ablation in End-Stage Heart Failure with Atrial Fibrillation. N Engl J Med 2023.
Paper: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2306037
Submitting the Paper of the Month:
Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung is using the series “Paper of the Month” to report in an exemplary and hot-off-the-press style on the outstanding work being done by the scientists it supports. We regularly present publications which have recently appeared in especially renowned journals, have emerged from foundation funding and been given appropriate acknowledgment. This is done in the respective categories “Original Paper” and “Review”. In the case of each of these publications, the first author and/or senior author are being funded by the foundation.
We invite all project managers, fellowship recipients and members of graduate study programs to send their work in accordance with the stated criteria as proposal for Paper of the Month to Ms. Anne Asschenfeldt (a.asschenfeldt@ekfs.de).
