Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart rhythm disorder. It is the result of uncoordinated action of the atrial myocardial cells, causing rapid and irregular contraction of the heart's atria.~The AF prevalence in adults is currently estimated to be between 2% and 4% and is expected to increase by a factor of 2.3 in the next few years, due to the increased longevity of the general population and the increased search for undiagnosed AF. Increased age is an important risk factor for AF, but other increased comorbidities, including hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, coronary artery disease, chronic renal failure, obesity, and obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, are also important; modifiable risk factors contribute strongly to the development and progression of AF (ESC Guideline, 2020).~The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) recommended pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) (Class IA) as first-line ablative strategy for persistent AF (Class IA) (ESC Guideline, 2020). However, PVI alone is only effective in treating about 40% to 60% of patients with persistent AF in the general population (unselected). If we apply this strategy to all patients (PVI alone), we accept to re-do ablative procedure in up to 60% of patients.~The second feasible strategy is to treat patients with persistent AF by PVI combined with substrate modulation (ESC Class IIb). This strategy, when done well, by creating irreversible lesions (Marshall-PLAN) can effectively treat 70% to 80% of AF patients. But this implies that the investigator will be doing unnecessary substrate modulation in up to 40% of patients, which can lead to increased risks associated with the ablative procedure, longer procedure times, multiple lesions, etc… In addition, incorrect or incomplete substrate modulation is pro-arrhythmic and leads to recurrences in the form of left atrial flutters, tolerance of which, is generally poor.~Both ablative strategies have been widely validated in large numbers of published studies.~The problem is to know when and for which patients to apply one or the other of the two strategies. Electric cardioversion could help in selecting the most appropriate strategy.
This study aims at assessing whether electric cardioversion can act as a discriminant factor between patients requiring Pulmonary Vein Isolation (PVI) procedure alone or PVI procedure combined with substrate modulation.~All included patients will undergo an electric cardioversion, then:~Patients with electric cardioversion success will be treated as per Standard of Care and according to ESC recommendations (2020). A prospective registry will be implemented for these patients.~Patients with electric cardioversion failure will be randomized in the study between 2 ablative procedures:~PVI procedure alone~PVI procedure combined with substrate modulation