LONG-TERM EFFICACY AND HEALTH STATUS IN PATIENTS WITH ATRIAL FIBRILLATION AFTER RADIOFREQUENCY ENDOCARDIAL CATHETER ABLATION IN MAZE REGIMEN

Aim: To evaluate efficacy of endocardial radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFA) in atrial fibrillation (AF) in Maze regimen, to assess patients’ health status with a European Quality of Life Questionnaire (EQ-5D) and cardiovascular mortality in patients after the intervention taking anticoagulants.Materials and methods: 391 patients with AF (247 of them males) aged from 18 to 77 years (mean age 54.9 ± 10.1 years) were examined and got treatment. All patients underwent RFA, including pulmonary vein isolation, linear ablations of the posterior wall, left atrial roof and mitral isthmus. Their health status was assessed according to efficacy of the intervention and data from EQ-5D questionnaires.Results: At 3 and 36 months after the intervention, RFA efficacy in patients with paroxysmal AF was 92% and 83.3%, respectively, and in patients with persistent AF, 89.7% and 72.4%. According to EQ-5D “thermometer”, after 36 months patients with successful catheter ablation assessed their health status as being approximately at the same level as during initial hospitalization, i.e., in patients with paroxysmal AF this scale scored at 79.74% and 81.4%, and in patients with persistent AF, at 79.94% and 81.06%, respectively. However, if the endocardial Maze procedure was unsuccessful, there was a deterioration of health status from 80.8% to 70.14% in patients with paroxysmal AF and from 77.82% to 69.46% in those with persistent AF. The same trend was observed in the analysis of other EQ-5D items. All-cause cardiovascular mortality in the subgroup with successful RFA was lower than in the subgroup with unsuccessful RFA, irrespective of AF form (p < 0.001). A 36-month mortality rate in patients with paroxysmal AF after a successful RFA was 2.1% and in patients with persistent AF, 1.2%, after unsuccessful RFA the corresponding values being 13.4% and 9.6%. Causes of death in patients with successful and unsuccessful RFA were different. After successful RFA for paroxysmal AF, the main cause of death was myocardial infarction (80%), and only 1 patient (20%) died of hemorrhagic stroke. The main cause of death after unsuccessful ablation in paroxysmal AF was ischemic stroke (83%), and only 1 patient (17%) died of myocardial infarction. In patients with persistent AF and successful RFA, there was only 1 death at 24 months after the intervention due to acute myocardial infarction. In the subgroup with unsuccessful RFA, the single cause of death in all patients who died was ischemic stroke.Conclusion: Maze RFA showed high efficacy in patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF, being somewhat lower in those with persistent AF. Maintenance of sinus rhythm in addition to medical treatment allows for a substantial reduction of cardiovascular mortality compared to anticoagulation only within the rate control strategy.