Skip to main content
The William Harvey Research Institute - Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry

Breadcrumb

  1. WHRI
  2. Clinical Activities
  3. Barts Cardiovascular Clinical Trials Unit (CVCTU)
  4. CVCTU Articles
  5. Items

Could ablation transform outcomes for heart failure patients with AF?

Published:

Atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF) are a common and dangerous combination. Together, they significantly raise the risk of hospital admission, reduce quality of life and carry a high rate of early death. For many of the estimated one million people living with HF in the UK, the added burden of AF complicates management and limits treatment options.

The CRAAFT-HF study, coordinated by Barts Cardiovascular Clinical Trials Unit (CVCTU), is asking: can catheter ablation for AF improve survival and reduce hospitalisations in patients with HF?

This large, randomised, open-label clinical trial is designed to provide the kind of definitive evidence that has so far been missing. Earlier studies, including CASTLE-AF, have hinted that ablation may reduce mortality and improve quality of life, but they were limited by small sample sizes and highly selective patient populations making the findings hard to generalise.

CRAAFT-HF aims to change that. By enrolling a more representative group of 1200 patients across multiple sites, the study will test whether the benefits of ablation hold true across a broader HF population. It will also compare outcomes against standard medical therapy, offering a real-world benchmark for clinical decision making.

The study’s scope goes beyond hard outcomes like hospital admissions and all-cause mortality. It will also assess how ablation affects daily living, an area that matters deeply to patients but is often under-reported. Quality of life, symptom burden and overall wellbeing are core to the study, reflecting the reality of managing a chronic condition like HF.

Ablation technology has moved on since the early trials. With more refined techniques including cryoballoon and pulsed field ablation now available, CRAAFT-HF is well placed to assess how current ablation techniques perform in practice and set the direction for future care.

With recruitment underway, CRAAFT-HF is already attracting attention from clinicians, researchers and patients who want better answers to a longstanding clinical dilemma. It is an ambitious project, but one with the potential to influence standard care and transform care pathways for a major patient population.

To learn more or get involved, contact the CRAAFT-HF team at craaft-hf-cvctu@qmul.ac.uk 

 

 

Back to top