Distance and Similarity Measurements of P Waves Before and After Pulmonary Vein Isolation in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation

This study aimed to assess electric markers obtained from the surface electrocardiogram in order to analyse significant differences before and after pulmonary vein isolation in patients who suffered from paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. 30 patients who underwent catheter ablation (in order to permanently restore sinus rhythm and stop atrial fibrillation episodes) were included in the study. Both surface electrocardiogram and intracavitary recordings were simultaneously acquired starting some minutes before catheter ablation began until the whole procedure successfully ended. P-waves have been delineated on V1 lead, and measurements of distances and similarities between them have been obtained to compare the recordings. It has been found that distances between P-waves significatively decrease (about 14%) whereas similarities significatively increase (about 3%) after catheter ablation. The use of these features would help to identify the success of the catheter ablation procedure, which is the main objective of this preliminary study: the non-invasive identification of spontaneous reconnection of pulmonary veins, the main cause of the arrhythmia recurrences.