ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The authors hypothesized that body core temperature during cardiac arrhythmia procedures in the electrophysiology laboratory declines, and examined the association of changes with the patient or procedural factors. They hypothesized that a greater degree of change negatively affects 1-year ablation success. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study. SETTING: Veteran's Administration Boston Healthcare System. PARTICIPANTS: Consecutive records of veterans undergoing ablation procedures under general anesthesia. INTERVENTIONS: Retrospective data collection and analysis from the electronic medical record. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Patient and procedural characteristics were collected from the electronic medical record. Core temperature data included baseline (BT) (following entry to the care process on the day of the procedure), the start (ST) and end of the procedure temperatures (ET), and their differences. The 1-year ablation success was assessed as described elsewhere in the literature. The authors used the paired t-test, linear, and logistic regression for hypothesis testing. Among 107 veterans, core temperatures were significantly lower between BT and ST, BT and ET, and ST and ET (p < 0.001 for all). One-year ablation success was 74.8% (n = 80). In multivariate logistic regression adjusted for age, body mass index and BTs showed a greater degree of change from BT to ET, and the ST-to-ET temperature was significantly associated with lower odds of success (odds ratios of 0.57 and 0.42, respectively; p < 0.05 for both). CONCLUSIONS: Core temperature declines during ablation. Greater temperature decline during general anesthesia was associated with lower 1-year ablation success rates.
