{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T08:46:10Z","timestamp":1785746770836,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785715200000},"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>Pulsed field ablation (PFA) has emerged as an innovative non-thermal approach with significant promise for treating atrial fibrillation (AF). We performed a meta-analysis between PFA and traditional ablation (TA, including cryoballoon ablation [CBA] and radiofrequency ablation [RFA]) for persistent atrial fibrillation (PerAF).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A systematic search was conducted in the Medline, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases to include all relevant studies that compared PFA with TA.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Six trials involving 1,610 patients were included in the study. Pooled analyses revealed that PFA exerted significant advantages over TA, characterized by lower recurrence of atrial tachyarrhythmias (ATAs) (risk ratio [RR]: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.70 to 0.97;\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.02). Further analysis revealed no significant difference when PFA was compared with CBA alone (RR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.74 to 1.08,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.24), whereas PFA was superior to RFA (RR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.59 to 0.96,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.02). For AF recurrence, PFA also demonstrated a lower rate compared with TA (RR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.65 to 0.95,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.01), and this advantage was also observed in the comparison with CBA (RR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.52 to 0.99,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.04). No significant difference was found between PFA and TA in terms of the atrial tachycardia\/atrial flutter (AT\/AFL). In addition, PFA significantly shortened the procedural time (standard mean difference [SMD]: \u22121.25, 95% CI: \u22121.87 to \u22120.64,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.00001) and left atrial dwell (LAD) time (SMD: \u22120.51, 95% CI: \u22120.99 to \u22120.03,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20090.04). However, PFA required a longer fluoroscopy time compared with RFA (SMD: 1.67, 95% CI: 1.12 to 2.22,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.00001). There was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between the two groups.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>PFA is effective and safe for PerAF treatment, featuring shorter procedure time and lower ATAs recurrence.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcvm.2026.1839858","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T08:06:53Z","timestamp":1785744413000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Meta-analysis of the safety and efficacy between pulsed field ablation vs. traditional ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Hui","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Nantong Rici Hospital, Yangzhou University","place":["Nantong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qin","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Nantong Rici Hospital, Yangzhou University","place":["Nantong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Weiping","family":"Tao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Nantong Rici Hospital, Yangzhou University","place":["Nantong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qinghua","family":"Qiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Nantong Rici Hospital, Yangzhou University","place":["Nantong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aiwu","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiology, Nantong Rici Hospital, Yangzhou University","place":["Nantong, 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