EMOTIon and COgNitive Function After Atrial Fibrillation Catheter Ablation vs. Medical Therapy(EMOTICON Trial)

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Trial end date: 2026-02-23
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

"Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an arrhythmic disease that increases especially in the elderly, increasing the risk of ischemic stroke by 5 times and is a major cause of dementia and cognitive impairment.

Cognitive dysfunction accompanying AF occurs regardless of the presence or absence of stroke, and AF itself is known to affect cognitive function.

However, since cognitive dysfunction is also affected by various accompanying chronic diseases, whether the cognitive dysfunction accompanying AF is due to subclinical ischemic stroke, cerebral hypoperfusion due to reduced cardiac output, inflammatory reaction or platelet dysfunction are unclear.

Recently, this research team reported an improvement in cognitive function with active sinus rhythm therapy such as AF catheter ablation. Nevertheless, it has not yet been proven whether such active and invasive AF treatment affects the improvement of cognitive function or depression by a randomized clinical trial.

In this prospective randomized clinical comparative study, the investigators will compare the AF catheter ablation group and drug therapy group in terms of cognitive function tests and depression psychological tests at baseline and a year after treatment. Our hypothesis is that AF catheter ablation is superior to drug therapy to improve cognitive function and depressive mood.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Yonsei University

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients aged between 20 and 80 years of age who have appropriate indication for catheter ablation for AF

2. AF patients with left atrium diameter <55 mm

3. Antiarrhythmic drug-resistant AF

4. Anticoagulation eligible patients

Exclusion Criteria:

1. AF associated with severe cardiac malformation or structural heart disease

2. Patients undergoing treatment for cognitive disorders, emotional disorders, and anxiety disorders

3. Patients with severe renal dysfunction or difficulty in CT imaging using contrast media

4. Patients with a previous history of AF ablation or other open heart surgery

5. Patients with active internal bleeding

6. Anticoagulant therapy not eligible patients

7. Valvular AF (mitral valve stenosis>grade 2, mechanical valve, mitral valve reconstruction)

8. Significant comorbidities

9. Patients with an expected survival period of less than 1 year

10. Drug or alcohol addiction patients

11. Among eligible persons, those who cannot read the consent form (illiteracy, foreigners, etc.)

12. Patients judged to be unsuitable for participation in clinical research based on the judgment of other researchers