Sham procedure
three‐way stopcock suture
After x2 venous access has been achieved using ultrasound guidance, DCCV will be undertaken if the patient is in AF. A 5‐Fr pacing catheter will then be placed at the right subclavian vein to pace the phrenic nerve (10–20 mA at 1.0–2.0 ms pulse width at a cycle length of 1000 ms). The phrenic nerves will be paced for 4 min on four occasions during the procedure. Operators are advised to keep the patient in the catheter lab for a minimum of 1 h.At the end of the procedure once sheaths have been removed all patients will have a three‐way stopcock suture to achieve haemostasis.