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Risk of Stroke and Recurrence After AF Ablation in Patients With an Initial Event‐Free Period of 12 Months
Author(s) -
KOCHHÄUSER SIMON,
ALIPOUR POURIA,
HAIGCARTER TANJAH,
TROUGHT KATHLEEN,
HACHE PHILIP,
KHAYKIN YAARIV,
WULFFHART ZAEV,
PANTANO ALFREDO,
TSANG BERNICE,
BIRNIE DAVID,
VERMA ATUL
Publication year - 2017
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.13138
Subject(s) - medicine , stroke (engine) , ablation , atrial fibrillation , cardiology , catheter ablation , period (music) , event (particle physics) , mechanical engineering , engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , acoustics
Stroke and Recurrence After AF Ablation Introduction Because of the unclear prognostic effects of ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF), oral anticoagulation (OAC) is often continued after ablation even in asymptomatic patients. We sought to determine the frequency of stroke and AF recurrence in patients on and off therapeutic OAC 1 year after a successful AF ablation. Methods and Results Patients that underwent AF ablation and were free of AF 12 months after ablation were selected from our AF database. During follow‐up (FU), patients were screened for recurrence of AF, changes in OAC or antiarrhythmic medication, and the occurrence of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). A total of 398 patients (median age 60.7 years [50.8, 66.8], 25% female) were investigated. The median duration of FU was 529 (373, 111,3.5) days. OAC was discontinued in 276 patients (69.3%). During FU, 4 patients (1%) suffered from stroke and 55 patients (13.8%) experienced a recurrence of AF. Persistent AF was significantly associated with a greater chance of AF recurrence (49.1% vs. 26.8%; P = 0.001). Neither CHADS 2 nor CHA2DS2‐VASc‐Score nor recurrence of AF were significantly different in patients with or without stroke. There was a trend toward a higher percentage of coronary artery disease among patients that experienced stroke (50% vs. 10%; P = 0.057). Conclusion The overall risk of stroke and AF recurrence is low in patients with a recurrence free interval of at least 12 months after AF ablation. Of note, recurrence of AF was not associated with a higher risk of stroke in our study population.