Introduction: Large proportion of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are not arrhythmia-free after ablation and remain at risk for complications such as stroke and cardiac morbidity.
Methods: Study enrolled 148 patients (mean age 52+9.2 yrs, male 87 (59%)) with AF after radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Follow up period was 5 years.
Results: Rate of post-operative AF relapse was 52% (77 patients). There were significant predictors of AF recurrence: left atrium (LA) dilation, age, type of RFA, duration of post-operative period, in-hospital AF recurrence, number of reference points and RF applications, previous antiarrhythmic treatment, aortic and mitral regurgitation. Correlative and logistic regression analysis data can be expressed in formula for calculating the risk of AF recurrence in long-term post-operative period: -75 +0.82*age +0.99*months after RFA -1.79*in-hospital AF recurrence +2*aortic regurgitation + 1.33*LA diameter + 2.9*previous antiarrhythmic treatment + 0.04*number of RF applications + 4.8*type of RFA + 0.31*number of reference points - 0.96*mitral regurgitation.
Conclusions: This approach taking into account possible predictors of arrhythmia recurrence allows to optimize management of AF patients after catheter ablation.