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The Effect of Antiarrhythmic Medication Management on Atrial Fibrillation Ablation Outcomes
Author(s) -
DUKES JONATHAN W.,
CHILUKURI KARUNA,
SCHERR DANIEL,
MARINE JOSEPH E.,
BERGER RONALD D.,
NAZARIAN SAMAN,
CHENG ALAN,
SPRAGG DAVID D.,
CALKINS HUGH,
HENRIKSON CHARLES A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of cardiovascular electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.193
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1540-8167
pISSN - 1045-3873
DOI - 10.1111/jce.12147
Subject(s) - medicine , ablation , atrial fibrillation , catheter ablation , cardiology , ablation of atrial fibrillation , surgery , anesthesia
The Effect of Antiarrhythmic Drugs Ablation Outcomes Background Patients commonly present for atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation while taking antiarrhythmic (AA) medications. It is unknown if AA use at the time of ablation affects procedural outcome. This study compares the AF ablation outcomes of patients who underwent ablation while on AA medications to those who were not on AA medications. Methods and Results A total of 180 consecutive patients who underwent their first catheter ablation of AF were identified from the Johns Hopkins Hospital AF registry and divided into 2 cohorts: those On AA at the time of ablation (127 patients, mean follow‐up 24.6 months) and those Off AA at the time of ablation (53 patients, mean follow‐up 20.3 months). Follow‐up was performed to identify recurrent AF. There was no statistically significant difference in the percentage of patients without a recurrence of symptomatic AF (single procedure success rate) in the On and Off AA groups at 6 months postablation (53.5% vs 50.1%, P = 0.75), or by the end of follow‐up (37.8% vs 41.5%, P = 0.64). For those patients who had symptomatic AF recurrence, the average time to recurrence was 6.2 ± 9.0 months in the On AA group and 4.2 ± 7.2 months in the Off AA group (P = 0.27). Conclusions There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of symptomatic AF recurrence between the On AA and Off AA groups in this study. The use of AA medications at the time of ablation does not appear to affect procedural outcomes in this population.