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Late recovery of ablated tissue leading to reconnection of pulmonary veins remains common following radiofrequency catheter ablation for AF. Ablation Index (AI), a novel ablation quality marker, incorporates contact force (CF), time, and power in a weighted formula. We hypothesized that prospective use of our previously published derived AI targets would result in better outcomes when compared to CF‐guided ablation.

Eighty‐nine consecutive drug‐refractory AF patients (49% paroxysmal) underwent AI‐guided ablation (AI‐group). AI targets were 550 for anterior/roof and 400 for posterior/inferior left atrial segments. Procedural and clinical outcomes of these patients were compared to 89 propensity‐matched controls who underwent CF‐guided ablation (CF‐group). All 178 procedures were otherwise similar, and both groups were followed‐up for 12 months. The last 25 patients from each group …