ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the effects of corticosteroids on the recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after radio fre-quency catheter ablation (RFCA ) .Methods A total of 50 patients with paroxysmal AF who underwent RFCA and then treated with corticosteroids from January 2011 to April 2014 were enrolled in this study .At the same period ,37 patients with paroxysmal AF who also underwent RFAC but without corticosteroids treatment were selected as control group .The follow-up was carried out by the fixed physician at 1st week ,1st month ,3rd months ,6th months ,12th months after RFCA through a telephone visit or a hos-pital visit ,including the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and the HOLTER examination ,symptom of heart-throb inquiry and the interpretation of ECG ,AF recurrence were analyzed and compared between hormone treatment group and control group .Results After 1 week treatment ,the maintenance rates of sinus rhythm in treatment group and control group were 80 .0% and 54 .1% ,re-spectively ,there was statistic difference(P < 0 .05) ,the recurrence of AF in treatment group was significantly decreased ;after 1 month treatment ,the maintenance rates of sinus rhythm in treatment group and control group were 80 .0% and 67 .6% ,respective-ly ,there was no statistic difference(P = 0 .187) ;after 12 months treatment ,the recurrence of AF in treatment group and control group ,was not found statistic significance(P= 0 .711) .Kaplan-Meier survival rate was drew to conduct Log-rank test ,the difference of AF recurrence between the two groups was no statistic significance(P= 0 .711) .Conclusion Transient use of small amounts of corticosteroids after AF ablation may be effective for preventing AF recurrences within 1 week after ablation but it is not effective for preventing AF recurrences at 1st month and 12th months after ablation .