Abstract
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is increasing in prevalence due to an aging population. Although medications for rhythm and rate control remain the first-line treatment options for many patients, difficulties can include arrhythmia relapse and drug side effects. Catheter ablation or radiofrequency is an alternative treatment modality that can isolate where ectopic arrhythmic sites originate. Several previous studies have examined post-ablation complications and hospitalization rates for arrhythmia recurrence. However, many of these studies used patient data from before 2015. We examined the following data using recent records: pre-procedural patient characteristics, rates of post-procedural hospitalizations with documented recurrence of AF, and patient risk factors associated with these recurrences.
Highlights
Radiofrequency catheter ablation is a commonly used method for the treatment of tachyarrhythmias
Hypertension was a common co-morbidity, recorded in 47% of patients and 35% were being treated with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) or an angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB), while 48% were on a beta-blocker
25% had a history of heart failure and diabetes. 73% of the patients were on anticoagulation and 24% were on a platelet aggregation inhibitor. 40% were on an HMG CoA reductase inhibitor
Summary
Radiofrequency catheter ablation is a commonly used method for the treatment of tachyarrhythmias. While the use of medications for rhythm and rate control remains the first-line treatment for many patients, difficulties including rhythm relapse and drug side effects complicate their use. Post-procedural complications include hemorrhage, hematomas, pulmonary vein stenosis, recurrence of atrial fibrillation, cardiac tamponade, and hospitalization after ablation [3,4]. Various studies have looked at post-ablation complications and hospitalization rates for arrhythmia recurrence [5,6,7]. Many of these studies were conducted or used patient data from before 2015. In an effort to provide contemporary data regarding this patient population, we examined pre-procedural patient characteristics, rates of post-procedural hospitalizations with documented recurrence of AF, and patient risk factors associated with these recurrences
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