Preliminary results from clinical validation study of a method for non-invasive assessment of atrioventricular node refractoriness during atrial fibrillation

The purpose of this study is to evaluate our previously proposed model-based, non-invasive approach to assess atrioventricular (AV) node refractory periods during atrial fibrillation (AF) by comparing its estimates to the invasively assessed AV node refractory periods. Patients referred to the hospital for pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), being in AF upon arrival, are included in the study. Using our approach, we estimate the AV node refractory periods from the ECG before and during the PVI procedure. The refractory periods is estimated using both single and dual pathway models; Bayes Information Criterion is employed to select the most appropriate model. Following conversion to sinus rhythm, a S1S2 atrial pacing protocol is applied to invasively assess AV node refractory periods. Preliminary results suggest that the method for non-invasive assessment of AV node refractoriness is accurate, however, more data is needed to better establish performance.