Integrating traditional statistics and explainable machine learning for risk stratification of atrial fibrillation recurrence after pulsed field ablation: a hypothesis-generating single-center study

This hypothesis-generating pilot study proposes preoperative NT-proBNP as a key candidate predictor for PFA recurrence and demonstrates a transparent XAI framework for small-sample analysis. All findings are preliminary and necessitate validation in larger, prospective cohorts, underscoring the need for PFA-specific prediction tools.