I don't believe your chances of ridding yourself of atrial fibrillation is only 50% just due to your age and that you have a (formal?) diagnosis of persistent AF. In the right hands, with the rights skills and experience, you might find yourself a lot more optimistic. Think of Dr. Andrea Natale at the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute in Austin, or Dr. Pasquale Santangli at Cleveland Clinic. There are others, I'm sure, but they are the two I have heard of who are real crackerjacks in the EP field (I live in Canada, but I spend a bit of time on fora dealing with AF).