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Safety and Effectiveness Evaluation of the Multi-Electrode Radiofrequency Balloon Catheter for the Treatment of Symptomatic Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

Safety and Effectiveness Evaluation of the Multi-Electrode Radiofrequency Balloon Catheter for the Treatment of Symptomatic Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation (STELLAR)

Status
Completed
Phases
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03683030
Acronym
STELLAR
Enrollment
397
Registered
2018-09-25
Start date
2018-10-22
Completion date
2022-02-18
Last updated
2025-10-17

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Atrial Fibrillation

Keywords

Interventional, Radiofrequency Ablation, Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation

Brief summary

The primary objective of this clinical investigation is to demonstrate safety and effectiveness of the Multi-Electrode RF Balloon catheter for the treatment of drug refractory symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Detailed description

The STELLAR study is a pivotal, prospective, multicenter, single-arm, clinical evaluation of the Multi-Electrode RF Balloon catheter. The study will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the Multi-Electrode RF Balloon catheter used for ablation in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF).

Interventions

DEVICEMulti-Electrode RF Balloon Catheter

Multi-Electrode RF Balloon Catheter will be inserted

Sponsors

Biosense Webster, Inc.
Lead SponsorINDUSTRY

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 75 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

Key Inclusion Criteria: * Diagnosed with Symptomatic Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation. 1. At least two symptomatic AF episodes within last six months from enrollment. 2. At least one ectrocardiographically documented AF episode within twelve (12) months prior to enrollment. * Failed at least one Class I or Class III antiarrhythmic drug. * Age 18 -75 years. Key

Exclusion criteria

* AF secondary to electrolyte imbalance, thyroid disease, or reversible or non-cardiac cause. * Previous surgical or catheter ablation for AF. * Previously diagnosed with persistent or long-standing persistent AF and/or Continuous AF \> 7 days. * Any percutaneous coronary intervention within the past 2 months. * Valve repair or replacement or presence of a prosthetic valve. * Any carotid stenting or endarterectomy within the past 6 months. * Coronary artery bypass grafting, cardiac surgery, or valvular cardiac surgical procedure within the past 6 months. * Documented left atrium (LA) thrombus within 1 day prior to the index procedure. * LA antero posterior diameter \> 50 mm. * Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF) \< 40%. * Contraindication to anticoagulation (e.g., heparin). * Myocardial infarction within the past 2 months. * Documented thromboembolic event (including transient ischemic attack) within the past 12 months. * Uncontrolled heart failure or New York Heart Association (NYHA) function class III or IV. * Awaiting cardiac transplantation or other cardiac surgery within the next 12 months. * Presence of implanted pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). * Women who are pregnant, lactating, or who are of child bearing age and plan on becoming pregnant during the course of the clinical investigation. * Life expectancy or other disease processes likely to limit survival to less than 12 months.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Number of Participants With Any Primary Adverse Events (PAE) That Occurred Within 7 Days Following Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Ablation Procedure Using HELIOSTAR CatheterWithin 7 days post-procedure (Day of procedure = Day 0)An AE is any untoward medical occurrence in a participant whether or not related to the investigational medical device. PAEs included myocardial infarction, thromboembolism, transient ischemic attack, phrenic nerve paralysis, major vascular access complication/bleeding, pericarditis, pulmonary edema (respiratory insufficiency), stroke/cerebrovascular accident (CVA), hospitalization (initial or prolonged), device or procedure related death, atrio-esophageal fistula, pulmonary vein stenosis.
Number of Participants With Effectiveness SuccessFrom Day 91 up to Day 365 post-procedure (Day of procedure = Day 0)Effectiveness success was defined as freedom from documented asymptomatic and symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF), atrial tachycardia (AT), or atrial flutter (AFL; of unknown origin) episodes based on electrocardiographic data (greater than equal to \[\>=\] 30 seconds on arrhythmia monitoring device) through the effectiveness evaluation period (Day 91 through Day 365 post index procedure) and freedom from the following failure modes : freedom from acute procedural failure, freedom from non-study catheter failure, freedom from repeat ablation failure, freedom from direct Current (DC) cardioversion failure, freedom from recurrence (captured on 12-lead electrocardiogram \[ECG\]) failure, and freedom from anti-arrhythmic drug failure. AFL of unknown origin was defined as all AFL except those Cavo-Tricuspid Isthmus (CTI) dependent AFL as confirmed by accepted electrophysiology (EP) maneuvers (example, entrainment or activation mapping) in an EP study.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Percentage of Participants With 12-Month Symptomatic RecurrenceFrom Day 91 up to Day 365 post-procedure (Day of procedure = Day 0)12-month symptomatic recurrence endpoint is defined as freedom from documented symptomatic AF/AT/AFL (of unknown origin) episodes based on electrocardiographic data (\>=30 seconds on arrhythmia monitoring device) through the effectiveness evaluation period (Day 91 through Day 365) in participants regardless of antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) use and freedom from the following failure modes: freedom from acute procedural failure, freedom from non-study catheter failure, freedom from repeat ablation failure, freedom from DC Cardioversion failure, and freedom from recurrence (captured on 12-lead ECG) failure. AFL of unknown origin is defined as all AFL except those CTI dependent AFL as confirmed by accepted EP maneuvers (e.g. entrainment or activation mapping) in an EP study.
Percentage of Participants With Acute Procedural SuccessDay 0 (day of procedure)Acute procedural success is defined as confirmation of entrance block in clinically relevant pulmonary veins (PVs) (all PVs except those that were silent and/or could not be cannulated) after adenosine and/or isoproterenol challenge (with or without the use of a focal catheter).
Percentage of Participants With 12-Month Single Procedure SuccessFrom Day 91 up to Day 365 post-procedure (Day of procedure = Day 0)12-month single procedure success is defined as freedom from documented symptomatic AF/AT/AFL (of unknown origin) episodes based on electrocardiographic data (\>=30 seconds on arrhythmia monitoring device) through the effectiveness evaluation period (Day 91 through Day 365) and freedom from the following failure modes: freedom from acute procedural failure, freedom from non-study catheter failure, freedom from repeat ablation failure, freedom from DC Cardioversion failure, freedom from recurrence (captured on 12-lead ECG) failure, and freedom from anti-arrhythmic drug failure. AFL of unknown origin is defined as all AFL except those CTI dependent AFL as confirmed by accepted EP maneuvers (e.g. entrainment or activation mapping) in an EP study.
Change From Baseline in Quality of Life as Assessed by Atrial Fibrillation Effect on Quality-of-Life (AFEQT) Scale ScoreBaseline, Month 12AFEQT questionnaire is an atrial fibrillation-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaire designed to assess the impact of atrial fibrillation on participant's HRQoL. The questionnaire includes 20 questions on a 7-point Likert scale. Questions 1 to 18 evaluated HRQoL and questions 19 to 20 related to participant's satisfaction with treatment. Overall scores ranged from 0 to 100, where 0 corresponds to complete disability (or responding extremely limited, difficult or bothersome to all questions answered), while a score of 100 corresponds to no disability (or responding not at all limited, difficult or bothersome to all questions answered). Therefore, a positive change in score corresponds to improvement in QoL. Total score was calculated using AFEQT formula: 100 minus (\[sum of severity for all questions answered minus number of questions answered\]\*100 / total number questions answered\*6).
Percentage of Participants With Alternative 12-Month SuccessFrom Day 91 up to Day 365 post-procedure (Day of procedure = Day 0)Alternative 12-month success is defined as freedom from documented symptomatic AF/AT/AFL (of unknown origin) episodes based on electrocardiographic data (\>=30 seconds on arrhythmia monitoring device) through the effectiveness evaluation period (Day 91 through Day 365) and freedom from the following failure modes: freedom from acute procedural failure, freedom from non-study catheter failure, freedom from repeat ablation failure, freedom from DC Cardioversion failure, freedom from recurrence (captured on 12-lead ECG) failure, and freedom from anti-arrhythmic drug failure. AFL of unknown origin is defined as all AFL except those CTI dependent AFL as confirmed by accepted EP maneuvers (e.g. entrainment or activation mapping) in an EP study.

Countries

China, Italy, United States

Participant flow

Pre-assignment details

As per protocol, enrolled participants who had signed informed consent form but did not meet eligibility criteria prior to insertion of the study catheter were considered as screen failures and excluded from analysis.

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Roll-in Phase
Participants enrolled in the roll-in phase with drug refractory, symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) and were treated with the HELIOSTAR catheter in conjunction with the LassoStar catheter and Mutli-Channel radiofrequency (RF) Generator.
94
Main Study
Participants enrolled in the main phase with drug refractory, symptomatic PAF, met eligibility criteria and had insertion of the HELIOSTAR catheter (with or without delivery of RF) in conjunction with the LassoStar catheter and Multi-Channel RF Generator.
257
Total351

Withdrawals & dropouts

PeriodReasonFG000FG001
Overall StudyCatheter inserted but did not undergo ablation01
Overall StudyDeath02
Overall StudyEarly termination by subject10
Overall StudyEnrolled but no catheter inserted1113
Overall StudyEnrolled but screen failures127
Overall StudyLost to Follow-up06
Overall StudyWithdrawal by Subject02

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicMain StudyTotalRoll-in Phase
Age, Continuous60.1 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 9.13
60.7 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 9.21
62.2 years
STANDARD_DEVIATION 9.3
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Hispanic or Latino
36 Participants40 Participants4 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Not Hispanic or Latino
193 Participants271 Participants78 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
28 Participants40 Participants12 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized
American Indian or Alaska Native
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized
Asian
20 Participants25 Participants5 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized
Black or African American
7 Participants9 Participants2 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized
Unknown or Not Reported
19 Participants26 Participants7 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized
White
211 Participants291 Participants80 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
90 Participants126 Participants36 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
167 Participants225 Participants58 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
EG001
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
0 / 1172 / 280
other
Total, other adverse events
42 / 9497 / 260
serious
Total, serious adverse events
19 / 9450 / 260

Outcome results

Primary

Number of Participants With Any Primary Adverse Events (PAE) That Occurred Within 7 Days Following Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Ablation Procedure Using HELIOSTAR Catheter

An AE is any untoward medical occurrence in a participant whether or not related to the investigational medical device. PAEs included myocardial infarction, thromboembolism, transient ischemic attack, phrenic nerve paralysis, major vascular access complication/bleeding, pericarditis, pulmonary edema (respiratory insufficiency), stroke/cerebrovascular accident (CVA), hospitalization (initial or prolonged), device or procedure related death, atrio-esophageal fistula, pulmonary vein stenosis.

Time frame: Within 7 days post-procedure (Day of procedure = Day 0)

Population: Roll-in arm: Roll-in analysis set- participants who were enrolled in the roll-in phase and had undergone the radiofrequency (RF) delivery with the study catheters. Main study arm: Modified intent-to-treat (mITT) analysis set- enrolled participants who met eligibility criteria and had insertion of the Biosense Webster HELIOSTAR catheter. N (overall number of participants analyzed): participants evaluable for this outcome measure. Participants with missing values were excluded from the analysis.

ArmMeasureValue (COUNT_OF_PARTICIPANTS)
Roll-in PhaseNumber of Participants With Any Primary Adverse Events (PAE) That Occurred Within 7 Days Following Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Ablation Procedure Using HELIOSTAR Catheter4 Participants
Main StudyNumber of Participants With Any Primary Adverse Events (PAE) That Occurred Within 7 Days Following Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Ablation Procedure Using HELIOSTAR Catheter13 Participants
Primary

Number of Participants With Effectiveness Success

Effectiveness success was defined as freedom from documented asymptomatic and symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF), atrial tachycardia (AT), or atrial flutter (AFL; of unknown origin) episodes based on electrocardiographic data (greater than equal to \[\>=\] 30 seconds on arrhythmia monitoring device) through the effectiveness evaluation period (Day 91 through Day 365 post index procedure) and freedom from the following failure modes : freedom from acute procedural failure, freedom from non-study catheter failure, freedom from repeat ablation failure, freedom from direct Current (DC) cardioversion failure, freedom from recurrence (captured on 12-lead electrocardiogram \[ECG\]) failure, and freedom from anti-arrhythmic drug failure. AFL of unknown origin was defined as all AFL except those Cavo-Tricuspid Isthmus (CTI) dependent AFL as confirmed by accepted electrophysiology (EP) maneuvers (example, entrainment or activation mapping) in an EP study.

Time frame: From Day 91 up to Day 365 post-procedure (Day of procedure = Day 0)

Population: Roll-in arm: Roll-in analysis set defined as all participants who were enrolled in the roll-in phase and had undergone the RF delivery with the study catheters. Main study arm: mITT analysis set defined as enrolled participants who met eligibility criteria and had insertion of the Biosense Webster HELIOSTAR catheter. Here, N (overall number of participants analyzed) signifies number of participants evaluable for this outcome measure.

ArmMeasureValue (COUNT_OF_PARTICIPANTS)
Roll-in PhaseNumber of Participants With Effectiveness Success62 Participants
Main StudyNumber of Participants With Effectiveness Success170 Participants
Secondary

Change From Baseline in Quality of Life as Assessed by Atrial Fibrillation Effect on Quality-of-Life (AFEQT) Scale Score

AFEQT questionnaire is an atrial fibrillation-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaire designed to assess the impact of atrial fibrillation on participant's HRQoL. The questionnaire includes 20 questions on a 7-point Likert scale. Questions 1 to 18 evaluated HRQoL and questions 19 to 20 related to participant's satisfaction with treatment. Overall scores ranged from 0 to 100, where 0 corresponds to complete disability (or responding extremely limited, difficult or bothersome to all questions answered), while a score of 100 corresponds to no disability (or responding not at all limited, difficult or bothersome to all questions answered). Therefore, a positive change in score corresponds to improvement in QoL. Total score was calculated using AFEQT formula: 100 minus (\[sum of severity for all questions answered minus number of questions answered\]\*100 / total number questions answered\*6).

Time frame: Baseline, Month 12

Population: Roll-in arm: Roll-in analysis set defined as all participants who were enrolled in the roll-in phase and had undergone the RF delivery with the study catheters. Main study arm: mITT analysis set defined as enrolled participants who met eligibility criteria and had insertion of the Biosense Webster HELIOSTAR catheter. Here, 'N' (number of participants analyzed): participants evaluable for this outcome measure.

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
Roll-in PhaseChange From Baseline in Quality of Life as Assessed by Atrial Fibrillation Effect on Quality-of-Life (AFEQT) Scale Score33.37 score on a scaleStandard Deviation 23.275
Main StudyChange From Baseline in Quality of Life as Assessed by Atrial Fibrillation Effect on Quality-of-Life (AFEQT) Scale Score35.90 score on a scaleStandard Deviation 21.754
Secondary

Percentage of Participants With 12-Month Single Procedure Success

12-month single procedure success is defined as freedom from documented symptomatic AF/AT/AFL (of unknown origin) episodes based on electrocardiographic data (\>=30 seconds on arrhythmia monitoring device) through the effectiveness evaluation period (Day 91 through Day 365) and freedom from the following failure modes: freedom from acute procedural failure, freedom from non-study catheter failure, freedom from repeat ablation failure, freedom from DC Cardioversion failure, freedom from recurrence (captured on 12-lead ECG) failure, and freedom from anti-arrhythmic drug failure. AFL of unknown origin is defined as all AFL except those CTI dependent AFL as confirmed by accepted EP maneuvers (e.g. entrainment or activation mapping) in an EP study.

Time frame: From Day 91 up to Day 365 post-procedure (Day of procedure = Day 0)

Population: Roll-in arm: Roll-in analysis set defined as all participants who were enrolled in the roll-in phase and had undergone the RF delivery with the study catheters. Main study arm: mITT analysis set defined as enrolled participants who met eligibility criteria and had insertion of the Biosense Webster HELIOSTAR catheter. Here, 'N' (number of participants analyzed) signifies participants evaluable for this outcome measure.

ArmMeasureValue (NUMBER)
Roll-in PhasePercentage of Participants With 12-Month Single Procedure Success67.7 percentage of participants
Main StudyPercentage of Participants With 12-Month Single Procedure Success68.4 percentage of participants
Secondary

Percentage of Participants With 12-Month Symptomatic Recurrence

12-month symptomatic recurrence endpoint is defined as freedom from documented symptomatic AF/AT/AFL (of unknown origin) episodes based on electrocardiographic data (\>=30 seconds on arrhythmia monitoring device) through the effectiveness evaluation period (Day 91 through Day 365) in participants regardless of antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) use and freedom from the following failure modes: freedom from acute procedural failure, freedom from non-study catheter failure, freedom from repeat ablation failure, freedom from DC Cardioversion failure, and freedom from recurrence (captured on 12-lead ECG) failure. AFL of unknown origin is defined as all AFL except those CTI dependent AFL as confirmed by accepted EP maneuvers (e.g. entrainment or activation mapping) in an EP study.

Time frame: From Day 91 up to Day 365 post-procedure (Day of procedure = Day 0)

Population: Roll-in arm: Roll-in analysis set defined as all participants who were enrolled in the roll-in phase and had undergone the RF delivery with the study catheters. Main study arm: mITT analysis set defined as enrolled participants who met eligibility criteria and had insertion of the Biosense Webster HELIOSTAR catheter. Here, 'N' (number of participants analyzed) signifies participants evaluable for this outcome measure.

ArmMeasureValue (NUMBER)
Roll-in PhasePercentage of Participants With 12-Month Symptomatic Recurrence75.3 percentage of participants
Main StudyPercentage of Participants With 12-Month Symptomatic Recurrence74.3 percentage of participants
Secondary

Percentage of Participants With Acute Procedural Success

Acute procedural success is defined as confirmation of entrance block in clinically relevant pulmonary veins (PVs) (all PVs except those that were silent and/or could not be cannulated) after adenosine and/or isoproterenol challenge (with or without the use of a focal catheter).

Time frame: Day 0 (day of procedure)

Population: Roll-in arm: Roll-in analysis set defined as all participants who were enrolled in the roll-in phase and had undergone the RF delivery with the study catheters. Main study arm: mITT analysis set defined as enrolled participants who met eligibility criteria and had insertion of the Biosense Webster HELIOSTAR catheter. Here, 'N' (number of participants analyzed) signifies participants evaluable for this outcome measure.

ArmMeasureValue (NUMBER)
Roll-in PhasePercentage of Participants With Acute Procedural Success100 percentage of participants
Main StudyPercentage of Participants With Acute Procedural Success98.8 percentage of participants
Secondary

Percentage of Participants With Alternative 12-Month Success

Alternative 12-month success is defined as freedom from documented symptomatic AF/AT/AFL (of unknown origin) episodes based on electrocardiographic data (\>=30 seconds on arrhythmia monitoring device) through the effectiveness evaluation period (Day 91 through Day 365) and freedom from the following failure modes: freedom from acute procedural failure, freedom from non-study catheter failure, freedom from repeat ablation failure, freedom from DC Cardioversion failure, freedom from recurrence (captured on 12-lead ECG) failure, and freedom from anti-arrhythmic drug failure. AFL of unknown origin is defined as all AFL except those CTI dependent AFL as confirmed by accepted EP maneuvers (e.g. entrainment or activation mapping) in an EP study.

Time frame: From Day 91 up to Day 365 post-procedure (Day of procedure = Day 0)

Population: Roll-in arm: Roll-in analysis set defined as all participants who were enrolled in the roll-in phase and had undergone the RF delivery with the study catheters. Main study arm: mITT analysis set defined as enrolled participants who met eligibility criteria and had insertion of the Biosense Webster HELIOSTAR catheter. Here, 'N' (number of participants analyzed) signifies participants evaluable for this outcome measure.

ArmMeasureValue (NUMBER)
Roll-in PhasePercentage of Participants With Alternative 12-Month Success67.7 percentage of participants
Main StudyPercentage of Participants With Alternative 12-Month Success69.6 percentage of participants

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 5, 2026