Stopping Progression of Atrial Fibrillation: Insights From Multicentered Trials

Interview With Jason Andrade, BSc, MD, FRCPC, FHRS

In this onsite interview at the Western Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Symposium, we talk with Jason Andrade, BSc, MD, FRCPC, FHRS, from Vancouver General Hospital.

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Jason Andrade and I am a cardiac electrophysiologist in Vancouver, Canada. A lot of my research has been focused on AFib ablation strategies through the CIRCA-DOSE trial, and early ablation and its outcomes and impact on long-term progression.

What can you tell us about your presentation at Western AFib? 

I am presenting on the information and evidence supporting interventions in terms of altering the progression of AFib. We often think about AFib as a dichotomy, so either paroxysmal or persistent AFib, and then we kind of work through treatment plans based on that. But we do not often think about that transition of how patients move from paroxysmal to persistent AFib. We do not traditionally put a focus on how the interventions that we have might impact that progression. So really, the focus is looking at whether or not drugs or ablation can alter that progression and improve the outcomes in the long term.

What are some of the take-home messages you would like viewers to leave with? 

I think the key take-home message is that we have now seen 3 randomized trials come out that have shown at different stages of the disease that intervention with a catheter ablation procedure does decrease the progression to persistent AFib. With the EARLY-AF study, we saw that in treatment-naive patients, a test showed us that in patients who had already failed drugs, and an earlier study showed that after a previously failed ablation procedure, repeating the procedure does result in lower rates of progression in persistent AFib compared to using antiarrhythmic drugs.

What is your favorite part about Western AFib?

I think the best thing about Western AFib is that it really assembles a lot of great experts in the field of AFib. It concentrates all of these talks into one environment that everyone gets to share, and at the same time, it is not like other big meetings where you shuffle from room to room and do not have that sense of community. Here, you really get that sense of community, and the fact that we get to have the dynamic exchanges of ideas really helps advance the field and makes it such an enjoyable meeting. I think being at Western AFib also really helps improve patient care because we get to see how the evidence and knowledge is getting moved forward. We have the perspectives from both our European and American colleagues as well as our North and South American colleagues. That potpourri of experience and different ways that people do things really helps us take those benefits home to our own patients.