The role of left atrium posterior wall isolation in patients undergoing catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation.

The posterior left atrium (LAPW) is an important substrate for initiation and maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF). While it has been proposed as a potential target for preventing recurrence of atrial tachyarrhythmias, it remains unclear whether electrical silence of LAPW offers additional benefits over pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) alone. We conducted a systematic review of PubMed, Medline, Embase, and Cochrane databases and identified 21 eligible studies, encompassing 1,514 patients assigned to PVI + posterior wall isolation (PWI) group and 1,629 patients assigned to PVI group. Over a median follow-up of 12 months, adjunctive PWI significantly improved the atrial tachyarrhythmia-free survival by 14% in comparison to PVI alone [relative risk (RR): 1.14, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04 to 1.25, p=0.004]. This improvement was mainly attributed to a pronounced benefit for patients with persistent AF. In addition, patients undergoing PVI+PWI had a longer procedure time [weighted mean difference (WMD): 23.85, 95% CI: 12.68 to 35.01, p<0.001], ablation time (WMD: 9.27, 95% CI: 5.19 to 13.54, p<0.001), and a nearly negligible increase in fluoroscopic exposure (WMD: 2.69, 95% CI: -0.23 to 5.62, p=0.071). There was no increased risk of procedure-related complications between these approaches (RR: 1.06, 95% CI: 0.71 to 1.57, p=0.787). Compared with PVI alone, PWI adjunctive to PVI exhibited a higher procedure success of sinus rhythm maintenance in persistent AF during an index catheter ablation. Meanwhile, elongated procedure time and ablation time did not compromise the safety of extensive ablation strategy with additional PWI.