Biosense Webster Study Compares Catheter Ablation Versus Drug Therapy for HF Risk in AFib Patients

October 5, 2023—Biosense Webster, Inc., part of Johnson & Johnson MedTech, announced new data from a company-funded study that sought to compare the risk of heart failure incidence among patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib) treated with catheter ablation versus antiarrhythmic drugs (AAD).

The study evaluated nonspecific catheter claims information and found that catheter ablation was associated with a significantly lower risk of incident heart failure compared to treatment with AAD only.

The findings were published by Megan Gruber, DO, et al in Heart Rhythm O². The primary research partner of the study is Saima Karim, DO, Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio.

According to Biosense Webster, the investigators used the 2014-2022 Optum Clinformatics database to identify adult patients with AFib who previously had used AAD. These patients were then classified into two cohorts: those treated with catheter ablation and those who received an AAD. The two groups were matched on sociodemographic and clinical covariates using the propensity score matching technique.

There were 9,246 patients in each of the two matched cohorts for AAD and catheter ablation.

The findings were statistically significant in showing patients receiving catheter ablation had a 57% lower risk of incident heart failure compared to those treated with AAD (hazard ratio, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.40-0.46). The lower risk of heart failure associated with catheter ablation treatment was consistent across all race/ethnicity and sex categories evaluated, stated the company.

“In this examination of a large real-world data set, we found that there was a significantly lower risk of heart failure for those patients undergoing cardiac ablation treatment versus AAD as second-line treatment,” commented Dr. Karim in the company’s press release. “For the many millions of patients impacted by AFib and the clinicians who treat them, these results provide compelling decision-making evidence for effective AFib treatment options when considering the incidence of new-onset heart failure.”