Clinical efficacy and safety of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in elderly patients / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in elderly patients.Methods From September 2008 to October 2011,a total of 420 consecutive patients undergoing catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) were selected.The patients were divided into 3 age groups:30 59 yr group (n=279),60-74 yr group (n=100),and 75-87 yr group (n =41).The effect of operation and complications during operative and postoperative periods were evaluated.Patients were followed up for at least 6 months,and the rate of atrial fibrillation reocurrence and life quality were recorded.Results Among 480 catheter ablation procedures,in 7 (1.5％) patients occurred main complications,while in 5 (1.0％) patients appeared other complications.The incidence of main complications in 3 groups were 1.1％ (3 patients),2.0％ (2 patients) and 4.9％ (2 patients) respectively,other complication rates in 3 groups were 0.7％ (2 patients),1.0％ (1 patient) and 4.9％ (2 patients) respectively and there were no differences between groups (all P＞0.05).During follow-up,the cases without AF relapse were 68.5％ (191 patients),66.0％ (66 patients) and 57.1％ (23 patients) respectively,and the patients with AF paroxysm were 21.1％ (59 patients),21.0％ (21 patients),29.3％ (12 patients) respectively,and there was no significant difference between groups (all P＞0.05).And no difference was found in improvement degree of life quality among three groups (P＞0.05).Conclusions Catheter ablation is safe and effective in elderly patients.For patients over 75 years with many types of cardiovascular diseases,catheter ablation is effective to control the relapse of AF,can significantly improve the quality of life,and has no increased risk of complications.