Trial reportEuropace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology2025
Epicardial ablation in high-risk Brugada syndrome to prevent ventricular fibrillation: results from a randomized clinical trial.
Trial report in Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03294278 (Epicardial Ablation in Brugada Syndrome in the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death. A Randomized Prospective Follow-up Study.), which is not on this map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Epicardial Ablation in Brugada Syndrome in the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death. A Randomized Prospective Follow-up Study.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Catheter Ablation vs. Standard Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Therapy in Symptomatic Brugada Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Studies.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Pooled it
- Breakthrough ventricular fibrillation in a patient with catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia after a decade of stability: A follow-up report.HeartRhythm case reports · 2026Article
- Contemporary Perspectives on J-Wave Syndromes: An Expert Consensus Statement.Journal of arrhythmia · 2026Article
- Accumulating evidence for epicardial ablation in malignant forms of Brugada syndrome: summary of two randomized clinical trials.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimsEpicardial ablation for Brugada syndrome (BrS) has shown promise in reducing ventricular fibrillation (VF), but its role remains controversial due to the lack of randomized trials. This study evaluates the efficacy of catheter ablation in high-risk BrS patients. METHODS AND
resultsThis prospective, single-centre, randomized (2:1) study enrolled BrS patients with cardiac arrest (CA) or appropriate ICD therapies. All patients had an ICD and were randomized to undergo epicardial ablation (ablation group) or no ablation (control group). Enrolment began in September 2017 and prematurely terminated in February 2024. The primary endpoint was freedom from VF recurrences. Secondary endpoints included procedure safety, ICD-related complications, and quality-of-life assessment. Forty patients (83% male, mean age 43.7 ± 12.1) were randomized: 26 in the ablation group and 14 in the control group. Thirty-six patients received appropriate ICD therapies before enrolment: 24 (92%) in the ablation group and 12 (86%) in the control group. One patient in the ablation group experienced a post-procedural pericardial effusion requiring pericardiocentesis. Thirteen patients (33%) had major ICD-related complications. After a mean follow-up of 4.0 ± 1.7 years, freedom from VF recurrence was 96% (25/26) in the ablation group and 50% (7/14) in the control group (P < 0.001). No unexplained or arrhythmic deaths occurred during follow-up.
conclusionEpicardial catheter ablation was associated with a reduction in VF recurrence compared with ICD therapy alone. These findings support the use of epicardial ablation in high-risk BrS patients. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV: ID NCT03294278.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.