{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T12:34:26Z","timestamp":1770813266770,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770768000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cardiovasc. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Esophageal fistula (EF) is a rare but devastating complication following atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. Data regarding the impact of age on EF are scarce.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To study the impact of age on the management and prognosis of EF following catheter ablation for AF.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The POTTER-AF study is a worldwide registry on EF following catheter ablation for AF. A total of 553,729 patients underwent AF ablation in 214 centers between 1996 and 2022. Of them, 138 patients experienced EF, and data regarding age, management, and prognosis were available in 113 patients. The population was divided based on the median age.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The median age was 63 years; 54 patients were &amp;lt;63 years old (Group 1), and 59 patients were \u226563 years old (Group 2). The groups were similar regarding procedural characteristics. The older population had a shorter time to symptom onset [15.0 (6.0, 21.0) vs. 21.0 (10.0, 25.3) days;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.031]. Group 2 was less likely to receive a brain CT or MRI for diagnosis (25.9% vs. 45.3%;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.046). The older population was more likely to undergo endoscopic treatment without surgery (27.6% vs. 11.3%;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.035). Conservative and surgical treatments were used in similar proportions. A trend toward higher fatality was noted in the older patients (72.9% vs. 56.6%;\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.078).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The older population had a shorter time to symptom onset, was less likely to receive a brain CT or MRI, and more likely to be treated by an endoscopic approach only. The older patient group showed a trend toward a higher fatality.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcvm.2025.1708499","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T06:51:44Z","timestamp":1770792704000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Impact of age on the management and prognosis of esophageal fistula after atrial fibrillation ablation\u2014a subanalysis of the worldwide POTTER-AF study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Sorin S.","family":"Popescu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rhythmology, University Heart Center L\u00fcbeck, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein","place":["L\u00fcbeck, Germany"]},{"name":"German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site Hamburg\/Kiel\/L\u00fcbeck","place":["L\u00fcbeck, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zeynep G.","family":"Demirtakan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rhythmology, University Heart Center L\u00fcbeck, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein","place":["L\u00fcbeck, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Vanessa","family":"Schmidt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rhythmology, University Heart Center L\u00fcbeck, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein","place":["L\u00fcbeck, Germany"]},{"name":"Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne","place":["Cologne, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Helmut","family":"P\u00fcrerfellner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrophysiology, Ordensklinikum Linz Elisabethinen","place":["Linz, Austria"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Philipp","family":"Sommer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kliniken f\u00fcr Elektrophysiologie\/Rhythmologie, Herz- und Diabeteszentrum NRW, Universit\u00e4tsklinik der Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum","place":["Bad Oeynhausen, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christian","family":"Sohns","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kliniken f\u00fcr Elektrophysiologie\/Rhythmologie, Herz- und Diabeteszentrum NRW, Universit\u00e4tsklinik der Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum","place":["Bad Oeynhausen, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christian","family":"Veltmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heart Center Bremen, Electrophysiology Bremen","place":["Bremen, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Steven","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department for Electrophysiology, Heart Center University Cologne","place":["Cologne, Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"K. 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Julian","family":"Chun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MVZ CCB am Agaplesion Markus Krankenhaus","place":["Frankfurt a.M., Germany"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Philippe","family":"Maury","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Rangueil","place":["Toulouse, France"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Estelle","family":"Gandjbakhch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sorbonne Universit\u00e9, APHP, Piti\u00e9 Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re University Hospital, Cardiology Institute","place":["Paris, France"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mikael","family":"Laredo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sorbonne Universit\u00e9, APHP, Piti\u00e9 Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re University Hospital, Cardiology Institute","place":["Paris, 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