Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
These were atrial fibrillation patients with contraindications for long-term anticoagulant treatment, and the CHA2DS2-VASC scores of the patients included in this group were greater than or equal to 2. Furthermore, all of these patients had previous multiple and failed catheter ablations for persistent AF.
The exclusion criteria were as follows, patients with other cardiac diseases should undergo elective heart surgery, such as CABG, valvular surgeries. The FEV1 was still < 50% after pulmonary functional exercise in patients with pulmonary dysfunction. Patients with inner diameter of LA > 65mm, spontaneous development of intracardiac thrombus, severe mitral valve lesions and pericardial effusion > 3mm, life expectancy less than one year, low risk of stroke or low risk of bleeding, taking warfarin for other reasons, complex atherosclerotic plaques in the ascending aorta/aortic arch, and who were in cardiac dysfunction were also excluded.