Correlation of the peak oxygen consumption and ventilatory aerobic threshold by cardiopulmonary exercise testing with atrial fibrillation recurrences after ablation in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation

Abstract

Background: The cardiopulmonary function is hypothesized to be associated with atrial fibrillation/atrial tachyarrhythmia (AF/AT) recurrence after AF ablation. Purpose: To clarify the relationship between the cardiopulmonary function after successful ablation and AF/AT recurrence. Methods: We examined 31 patients with paroxysmal AF who underwent AF ablation. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) was performed at 1month after the ablation. A continuously increasing loading method on a bicycle ergometer was employed for the CPET. Results: No adverse events, including AF/AT recurrence, occurred during the CPET. Among 31 patients, AT/AF recurrence was observed in seven (23%). The ventilatory anaerobic threshold (VAT) and peak oxygen consumption (VO2) were significantly higher in patients without AF/AT recurrence than in those with AT/AF recurrences (peak VO2 23.6 ± 5.7 vs 17.2 ± 4.1 mL/kg/min; VAT, 16.7 ± 2.8 vs 13.8 ± 2.7 mL/min/kg). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the peak VO2 and VAT were 0.786 (P