The Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) has retracted a paper that questioned the effectiveness of rotor ablation in non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

According to a retraction notice by the journal there were concerns around the randomisation of the Impact of Rotor Ablation in Nonparoxysmal Atrial Fibrillation Patients Results From the Randomized OASIS Trial [J Am Coll Cardiol 2016;68:274–82].

“The study is referred to as a “randomized trial” but deviation from a random allocation of subjects to treatments across sites and the imbalance introduced by a non-random “randomization error” were not disclosed in the manuscript”, the retraction notice said.

An article by Retraction Watch noted that the study’s corresponding author Andrea Natale, Executive Medical Director of Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia at Austin, took to social media to voice his frustrations, implying that industry had played a role in the study’s demise.

@leftbundle @JACCJournals @RetractionWatch yes very sad. Another victory of the industry and their conflicted accolades

— Andrea Natale, MD (@andreanatalemd) September 7, 2016