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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">97</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="index">urn:lsid:arphahub.com:pub:B5033382-9D21-53CE-B630-B4E3A1146D51</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title xml:lang="en">Bulgarian Cardiology</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title xml:lang="en">Bulgarian Cardiology</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">1310-7488</issn>
      <issn pub-type="epub">2683-1015</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Bulgarian Society of Cardiology</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3897/bgcardio.26.e59263</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">59263</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Research Article</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="scientific_subject">
          <subject>Arrhythmias (аритмии)</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Recurrences of atrial fibrillation after first radiofrequency pulmonary vein isolation in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: single center follow-up</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group content-type="authors">
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Shalganov</surname>
            <given-names>Tchavdar</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:type="simple">t_shalganov@yahoo.com</email>
          <uri content-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2268-0759</uri>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Stoyanov</surname>
            <given-names>Milko</given-names>
          </name>
          <uri content-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1226-6119</uri>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Mirazchiyski</surname>
            <given-names>Metodi</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Kunev</surname>
            <given-names>Boyan</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <aff id="A1">
        <label>1</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">National Heart Hospital, Sofia, Bulgaria</addr-line>
        <institution>National Heart Hospital</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Sofia</addr-line>
        <country>Bulgaria</country>
      </aff>
      <author-notes>
        <fn fn-type="corresp">
          <p>Corresponding author: Tchavdar Shalganov (<email xlink:type="simple">t_shalganov@yahoo.com</email>).</p>
        </fn>
        <fn fn-type="edited-by">
          <p>Academic editor: Vassil Traykov</p>
        </fn>
      </author-notes>
      <pub-date pub-type="collection">
        <year>2020</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>30</day>
        <month>12</month>
        <year>2020</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>26</volume>
      <issue>4</issue>
      <fpage>13</fpage>
      <lpage>25</lpage>
      <uri content-type="arpha" xlink:href="http://openbiodiv.net/E6568FB7-3F21-5F69-A07E-E6B5AE478FF2">E6568FB7-3F21-5F69-A07E-E6B5AE478FF2</uri>
      <uri content-type="zenodo_dep_id" xlink:href="https://zenodo.org/record/4422410">4422410</uri>
      <history>
        <date date-type="received">
          <day/>
          <month/>
          <year/>
        </date>
      </history>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>Tchavdar Shalganov, Milko Stoyanov, Metodi Mirazchiyski, Boyan Kunev</copyright-statement>
        <license license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" xlink:type="simple">
          <license-p>This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <label>Abstract</label>
        <p>The presence of left atrial (LA) dilation, as well as the presence and extent of LA zones with abnormal myocardial voltage are among the factors for recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after pulmonary vein isolation (PVI). Our aim was to study the rate of recurrences after first ablation for AF in patients with and without LA dilation or abnormal myocardial voltage at follow-up. <bold>Materia</bold><bold>l and Methods. </bold>This is a retrospective study of patients with paroxysmal AF and first PVI preceded by high density voltage mapping in sinus rhythm. Clinical and procedural characteristics, recurrence-free survival and predictors for recurrence were studied. P value &lt; 0.05 was considered significant. <bold>Results. </bold>Sixty-three patients (65% males) were studied. Mean follow- up duration was 12 months beyond the end of the 3-month blinding period. Recurrence-free survival at 12 months was 74.8% and varied widely with the presence of LA dilation or early recurrences within the blinding period. In patients with non-dilated LA arrhythmia-free survival was 82% vs. 66% in those with LA dilation, HR = 2.61, 95% CI 1.06-6.41, logrank p = 0.07. Patients without early recurrence had 12-month recurrence-free survival of 83.8% vs. 52% in those with early recurrence, HR 4.17, 95% CI 1.48-11.76, logrank p = 0.001. The presence and area of abnormal voltage zones were not different in patients with and without recurrence. <bold>Conclusion. </bold>The rate of AF recurrences after PVI at 15 months after the procedure was 25%, but it depended highly on the early recurrences during the blinding period and the degree of LA dilation.</p>
      </abstract>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
