Safety and effectiveness of the first balloon-in-basket pulsed field ablation system for the treatment of atrial fibrillation: VOLT CE Mark Study 6-month results

Aims Pulsed field ablation (PFA) is a growing ablation modality for pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. This study assesses the 6-month safety and effectiveness of a novel balloon-in-basket, mapping-integrated PFA system, with a purpose-built form factor for PVI. Methods and results The VOLT CE Mark Study is a prospective, multi-center, pre-market study. A total of 150 patients with drug-refractory paroxysmal (PAF) or persistent AF (PersAF) were enrolled between 8 November 2023 and 14 March 2024, of which 146 patients (age 64.1 ± 10.0 years, 63.0% male, 70.5% PAF) underwent PVI with the balloon-in-basket PFA catheter and system featuring integrated electroanatomic mapping with contact-sensing. Study endpoints were the rate of primary serious adverse events within 7 days as well as acute procedural effectiveness and 6-month freedom from recurrence. Acute effectiveness was achieved in 99.1% (573/578) of treated PVs (98.6% of patients, 144/146) with 17.6 ± 5.7 PFA applications/patient. Procedure, fluoroscopy, LA dwell, and transpired ablation times were 100.4 ± 33.0, 17.3 ± 12.1, 39.4 ± 20.6, and 31.4 ± 16.8 min, respectively. There were 4 (2.7%; 4/146) primary serious adverse events. The rate of freedom from documented atrial arrhythmias was 88.2% in PAF patients and 76.7% in PersAF patients (freedom from symptomatic recurrence was documented in 90.2% of PAF patients and 74.4% of PersAF patients) through 6-months post-index procedure. Conclusion The VOLT CE Mark Study primary results demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the novel balloon-in-basket PFA system to perform PVI in PAF and PersAF.