Repeat ablation
Patients scheduled for repeat ablation were admitted the day before the procedure. Blood, electrocardiography, and echocardiography testing were performed in the same manner as in the initial session. Updated information on oral anticoagulant use and baseline characteristics just before the repeat procedure was obtained from the medical records. TEE was also performed within 24 hours of the repeat ablation. Transthoracic echocardiography and contrast-enhanced CT images were generally examined within a week before ablation. Although the decision about the type of imaging examination performed, including TEE and/or CT imaging, was made depending on the patients’ condition and was left to the discretion of the attending physician, both TEE and CT examinations were planned in most patients, if applicable. The final confirmation of thrombi presence was assessed by TEE examination in cases with a possibility of presence of thrombi in any imaging study, as performed in the first session.