A Clinical Study of the Arctic Front Cryoablation Balloon for the Treatment of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

STOP AF (PS-023) is a randomized, controlled study of subjects 18 to 75 years old who had been referred for ablative intervention after failing one or two (but not all three) anti-arrhythmic drugs used in the treatment of AF (flecainide, propafenone and sotalol). Study subjects were randomized into two arms: the cryoablation (treatment) arm and the membrane-active antiarrhythmic drug (control) arm. A 90- day blanked follow-up period, including reablation and medication adjustments was applied in both arms to optimize therapies. All subjects underwent follow-up assessments at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, weekly transtelephonic monitoring, 24-hour Holter monitoring and CT/MRI of the pulmonary veins(at 6 and 12 months) during the trial period. Control subjects who were confirmed to be chronic treatment failures were permitted to crossover to cryoablation in this trial. Acute procedural success was defined for subjects that underwent cryoablation and demonstrated electrical isolation in ≥ 3 Pulmonary Veins (PVs) at the conclusion of the first protocol-defined cryoablation procedure using the Arctic Front® Cardiac CryoAblation Catheter System. The primary effectiveness endpoint was defined as having acute procedural success and freedom from chronic treatment failure (CTF) for experimental subjects, and freedom from CTF for control subjects. Freedom from (CTF) was defined for both groups as the occurrence of detectable AF during a non-blanked follow-up period, or an AF Intervention, or the use of a non-study AF drug at any time. The co-primary safety outcome measures were Cryoablation Procedure Events (CPEs) in cryoablated subjects and Major Atrial Fibrillation Events (MAFEs) in both groups. CPEs were device- or procedure-related serious adverse events. Other safety assessments were made during the course of the STOP AF trial specific to pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) and phrenic nerve injury.