ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Late recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after radiofrequency ablation remains significant. Asymptomatic recurrence poses a difficult clinical problem as it is associated with an equally increased risk of stroke and death compared with symptomatic AF events. Meta-analyses reveal that no single preablation patient characteristic efficiently predicts these AF recurrences. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of premature atrial complex (PAC) occurrence with regard to the risk of late AF recurrence after radiofrequency ablation. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study cohort consisted of 124 patients with 7-day Holter recordings at 6 months post radiofrequency ablation for AF. No patients had AF recurrence before this time. Patients were followed-up every 6 months. Holter-detected PACs were defined as any supraventricular complexes occurring >30% earlier than expected. During a median follow-up of 4.2 years (first quartile to third quartile [Q1-Q3]=1.6-4.5), 32 patients (26%) had late recurrences of AF at a median of 462 days (Q1-Q3=319-1026) post radiofrequency ablation. The number of PACs per 24 hours was 248 (Q1-Q3=62-1026) in patients with and 77 (Q1-Q3=24-448) in patients without recurrence of AF (P=0.02). Multivariate analysis of the risk of late AF recurrence found ≥142 PACs per 24 hours to have a hazard ratio 2.84 (confidence interval, 1.26-6.43), P=0.01. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that occurrence of ≥142 PACs per day at 6 months after PVI was independently associated with a significantly increased risk of late AF recurrence. These results could have important clinical implications for the design of post-PVI follow-up. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.anzctr.org.au. Unique identifier: ACRTN12606000467538.
Subject(s)
Atrial Fibrillation/surgery , Atrial Premature Complexes/etiology , Catheter Ablation/adverse effects , Pulmonary Veins/surgery , Atrial Fibrillation/diagnosis , Atrial Fibrillation/physiopathology , Atrial Premature Complexes/diagnosis , Atrial Premature Complexes/physiopathology , Chi-Square Distribution , Disease-Free Survival , Electrocardiography, Ambulatory , Female , Humans , Kaplan-Meier Estimate , Male , Middle Aged , Multivariate Analysis , Predictive Value of Tests , Proportional Hazards Models , Pulmonary Veins/physiopathology , Recurrence , Risk Factors , Time Factors , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Infections are life-threatening complications in patients undergoing high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell support (HDT). Knowledge of the infectious pathogens is essential to make a safe outpatient setting. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 208 patients treated with HDT. The population included non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and multiple myeloma (MM) patients. No patients received prophylactic antibacterial treatment. RESULTS: Pathogens were isolated from 44% of all patients. MM patients more frequently had multiple pathogens in blood cultures (38% versus 25%). Transplantation related mortality was similar between the groups. CONCLUSION: The frequency of isolated pathogens, positive blood cultures, and the diversity of pathogens were higher in MM patients as compared to NHL patients. However, this did not translate into higher transplantation-related mortality, probably because broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment could be initiated immediately. A safe outpatient setting with prophylactic antibiotic treatment is dependent on continuous collection and registration of microbiological findings.
