Baseline patient characteristics
A total of 2,066 eligible patients were included in the study. Radiofrequency, cryoballoon, hot balloon, and laser balloon ablations were applied in 1,589, 412, 51, and 11 patients, respectively. A total of 801 (39%) patients showed AF recurrence during a mean follow-up period of 14.3 months. Repeat ablation was performed in 615 patients 258.0 (105.0–882.0) days after the first session. Baseline characteristics and examination data for the total sample and patients with and without repeat ablation are shown in Table 1. Of the patients who underwent repeat ablation, the mean age was 62.7 ± 10.8 years and 75% were male. More than half of the patients (63%) had paroxysmal AF. Two hundred and ninety-four patients (48%) received DOACs and 12 patients had a history of thrombus detection prior to the first ablation, followed by elimination of the thrombi at the time of the first session. In the first session, 598 patients (97%) and 576 (94%) underwent TEE and contrast-enhanced CT examination, respectively. All patients underwent at least one imaging examination to screen for the presence of thrombi at the time of the first ablation.