Wazni O, Dandamudi G, Sood N, et al. - In patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF), larger improvements in AF-specific quality of life and a higher rate of symptom resolution were achieved with first-line cryoballoon ablation (CBA) vs antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) therapy.

• A total of 203 patients with symptomatic AF not previously receiving rhythm control therapy were randomly assigned to AAD (class I or III) (n=99) or CBA (n=104).

• At 6 and 12 months, significantly larger improvements in the AFEQT (Atrial Fibrillation Effect on QualiTy-of-Life) summary and subscale scores were achieved with CBA vs AAD therapy.

• AFEQT summary score improved clinically significantly (>5 points) in 96.0% of patients in the CBA arm vs 72.2% of patients in the AAD arm.

• After a 90-day blanking period, there was no AF-specific symptom recurrence in 54.4% of the CBA group vs 29.7% of the AAD group.