Pilot Study: ARI Phrenic Nerve Monitoring Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Pilot Study: Phrenic Nerve Monitoring During Pulmonary Vein Isolation for Atrial Fibrillation by Cryoablation; a Comparative Study of Novel Techniques
IRAS ID
213234
Contact name
Chris Llewellyn
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research Governance
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 2 days
Research summary
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart rhythm abnormality affecting around 1 million people in the UK (NHS Choices, 2015). AF causes an irregular heart rhythm, which is generated by areas of abnormal tissue within one of the hearts chambers. \n\nSymptomatic patients can be treated either by medication or intervention, one type of intervention is cryoballoon ablation. Cryoballoon ablation is a procedure where by a small balloon is passed into one of the heart chambers via a vein in the leg. Once the balloon is in position it is inflated using freezing cold gas, this in turn freezes the tissue surrounding it. The freezing procedure kills the areas of abnormal tissue, preventing the AF. \n\nDuring the procedure of cryoballoon ablation there is a small risk of a complication called phrenic nerve palsy. The phrenic nerve runs alongside the heart and controls the movement of the diaphragm. Phrenic nerve palsy can be debilitating (Ghosh et al., 2015) as it sometimes affects a person’s ability to breath. \n\nIn order to try and prevent this complication various monitoring techniques can be employed during the procedure. At present there have been lots of new monitoring techniques described. What this project aims to do is compare three of these techniques and determine which method is the best. This is important as better monitoring should result in fewer complications during these procedures.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
17/NS/0001
Date of REC Opinion
6 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion