Gemma Pelargonio1,2, Antonio Di Monaco3, Pietro Guida4, Pier Luigi Pellegrino5, Pasquale Vergara6, Massimo Grimaldi4, Maria Lucia Narducci1, Massimo Tritto7. 1. Dipartimento di Scienze Cardiovascolari Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Roma, Italy. 2. Istituto di Cardiologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italy. 3. Dipartimento di Cardiologia. Ospedale Generale Regionale "F. Miulli", Acquaviva delle Fonti (Bari), Italy. a.dimonaco@gmail.com. 4. Dipartimento di Cardiologia. Ospedale Generale Regionale "F. Miulli", Acquaviva delle Fonti (Bari), Italy. 5. Dipartimento di Cardiologia, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti di Foggia, Foggia, Italy. 6. Unità Operativa di Aritmologia, Ospedale San Raffaele di Milano, Segrate, Italy. 7. Unità operativa di Elettrofisiolgia ed Elettrostimolazione, Humanitas Mater Domini, Castellanza (Varese), Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, occurring in 1-2% of the general population. Catheter ablation has become an important treatment modality for patients with symptomatic drug-refractory AF. We report data regarding the AF ablation approaches and modalities in the Italian "real world." METHODS: The survey was set-up to collect data on ablation procedure across Italy. All centers performing AF ablation were invited, regardless of the number of annual procedures, to complete a questionnaire regarding their ablation approaches. All centers reported data regarding procedures performed during the year 2017. RESULTS: A total of 3260 procedures were reported from 49 participating hospitals. Most of Italian regions were included in the study. The majority of the centers performed "Always" pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) in paroxysmal and persistent AF catheter ablation, while adjunctive lesions in persistent AF ablation were planned in most of them but not all, and 16% never performed lesions other than PVI. During ablation procedure, vitamin k inhibitors were uninterrupted in 55% of centers, while direct oral anticoagulant in 44% of centers was used uninterruptedly. No relationship was observed between patient data and the number of procedures performed at each center. CONCLUSIONS: This survey suggests that the adherence of Italian centers to the most recent European Society of Cardiology guidelines for AF ablation is reasonably high.
PURPOSE: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, occurring in 1-2% of the general population. Catheter ablation has become an important treatment modality for patients with symptomatic drug-refractory AF. We report data regarding the AF ablation approaches and modalities in the Italian "real world." METHODS: The survey was set-up to collect data on ablation procedure across Italy. All centers performing AF ablation were invited, regardless of the number of annual procedures, to complete a questionnaire regarding their ablation approaches. All centers reported data regarding procedures performed during the year 2017. RESULTS: A total of 3260 procedures were reported from 49 participating hospitals. Most of Italian regions were included in the study. The majority of the centers performed "Always" pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) in paroxysmal and persistent AF catheter ablation, while adjunctive lesions in persistent AF ablation were planned in most of them but not all, and 16% never performed lesions other than PVI. During ablation procedure, vitamin k inhibitors were uninterrupted in 55% of centers, while direct oral anticoagulant in 44% of centers was used uninterruptedly. No relationship was observed between patient data and the number of procedures performed at each center. CONCLUSIONS: This survey suggests that the adherence of Italian centers to the most recent European Society of Cardiology guidelines for AF ablation is reasonably high.
Authors: Giuseppe Boriani; Cecile Laroche; Igor Diemberger; Elisa Fantecchi; Mircea Ioachim Popescu; Lars Hvilsted Rasmussen; Gheorghe-Andrei Dan; Zbigniew Kalarus; Luigi Tavazzi; Aldo P Maggioni; Gregory Y H Lip Journal: Europace Date: 2016-01-29 Impact factor: 5.214