Efficacy of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in patients with significant functional mitral regurgitation

Abstract

Background: Catheter ablation has been established to be an effective therapy for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) and is recommended as the treatment of choice for many patients, including those with clinically significant functional mitral regurgitation (MR). However, there is little information available about the clinical efficacy of catheter ablation for paroxysmal AF in patients with significant functional MR. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 247 patients with paroxysmal AF who underwent AF ablation. The study included 28 (11.3%) patients with significant functional MR and 219 (88.7%) without significant functional MR. AF recurrence was defined as the occurrence of confirmed atrial tachyarrhythmia lasting >30 seconds beyond 3 months after catheter ablation. Results: During a mean follow-up of 20.1 ± 7.4 months (range, 3-36 months), 45 (18.2%) patients developed recurrence of AF. The recurrence rate of AF was higher in patients with significant functional MR than in those without significant functional MR (42.9% vs 15.1%; P