Cryoballoon ablation of atrial fibrillation is effectively feasible without previous imaging of pulmonary vein anatomy: insights from the 1STOP project.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary vein isolation by cryoablation (PVI-C) is a standard therapy for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF); however, PVI-C can become a challenging procedure due to the anatomy of the left atrium and pulmonary veins (PVs). Importantly, the utility of imaging before the procedure is still unknown regarding the long-term clinical outcomes following PVI-C. The aim of the analysis is to evaluate the impact of imaging before PVI-C on procedural data and AF recurrence. METHODS: Patients with paroxysmal AF underwent an index PVI-C. Data were collected prospectively in the framework of 1STOP ClinicalService® project. Patients were divided into two groups according to the utilization of pre-procedural imaging of PV anatomy (via CT or MRI) or the non-usage of pre-procedural imaging. RESULTS: Out of 912 patients, 461 (50.5%) were evaluated with CT or MRI before the PVI-C and denoted as the imaging group. Accordingly, 451 (49.5%) patients had no pre-procedural imaging and were categorized as the no imaging group. Patient baseline characteristics were comparable between the two cohorts, but the ablation centers that comprised the imaging group had fewer PVI-C cases per year than the no imaging group (p < 0.001). The procedure, fluoroscopy, and left atrial dwell times were significantly shorter in the no imaging cohort (p < 0.001). The rates of complications were significantly greater in the imaging group compared to the no imaging group (6.9% vs. 2.7%; p = 0.003); this difference was attributed to differences in transient diaphragmatic paralysis. The 12-month freedom from AF was 76.2% in the imaging group and 80.0% in the no imaging group (p = 0.390). CONCLUSIONS: In our analysis, PVI-C was effective regardless of the availability of imaging data on PV anatomy.

Findings of an observational investigation of pure remote follow-up of pacemaker patients: is the in-clinic device check still needed?

BACKGROUND: Device follow-up is mandatory in the care of patients with a pacemaker. However, in most cases, device checks appear to be mere technical, time-consuming procedures. The aim of this research is to evaluate whether remote follow-up can replace in-clinic device checks by assessing clinical outcomes for pacemaker patients followed only via remote follow-up. METHODS AND RESULTS: Consecutive pacemaker patients followed with remote monitoring were prospectively included by 6 Italian cardiology centers in an observational investigation. The workflow for remote monitoring included an initial assessment by nursing staff and, when necessary, by a responsible physician for medical decisions. No in-person visits were scheduled after the start of remote monitoring. One-thousand and two-hundred and fifty one patients (30% female, 75±11years old) were followed for a median observation period of 15months. Out of 4965 remote transmissions, 1882 (38%) had at least one clinically relevant event to be investigated further, but, only after 137 transmissions (2.8%), the patients were contacted for an in-clinic visit or hospitalization. Sixty-nine patients died and 124 were hospitalized for various reasons. Atrial fibrillation episodes were the most common clinical events discovered by remote transmissions, occurring in 1339 (26%) transmissions and 471 (38%) patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our experience shows that remote monitoring in a pacemaker population can safely replace in-clinic follow-up, avoiding unnecessary in-hospital device follow-up.

Long term follow up of radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial flutter: clinical course and predictors of atrial fibrillation occurrence.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the time to onset and the predictors of atrial fibrillation (AF) during long term follow up of patients with typical atrial flutter (AFL) treated with transisthmic ablation. DESIGN: Prospective multicentre study. METHODS AND RESULTS: 383 patients (75.4% men, mean (SD) age 61.7 (11.1) years) who underwent transisthmic ablation for typical AFL were investigated. In 239 patients (62.4%) AF was present before ablation. Ablation proved successful in 367 patients (95.8%). During a mean (SD) follow up of 20.5 (12.4) months, 41.5% of patients reported AF. The cumulative probability of postablation AF increased continuously as time passed: it was 22% at six months, 36% at one year, 50% at two years, 58% at three years, and 63% at four years. CONCLUSIONS: AF occurred in a large proportion of patients after transisthmic catheter ablation of typical AFL. The occurrence of AF was progressive during follow up. Preablation AF, age < 65 years, and left atrial size > 50 mm are associated with postablation AF occurrence.

An evaluation of the strategy of maintenance of sinus rhythm by antiarrhythmic drug therapy after ablation and pacing therapy in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

AIMS: Permanent atrial fibrillation develops in many patients after ablation and pacing therapy. We compared a strategy that initially allowed patients to remain in atrial fibrillation with a strategy that initially attempted to restore and maintain sinus rhythm. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this multicentre randomized controlled trial, 68 patients affected by severely symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation were assigned, after successful atrioventricular junction ablation and pacing treatment, to antiarrhythmic drug therapy with amiodarone, propafenone, flecainide or sotalol and were compared with 69 patients assigned, after successful AV junction ablation and pacing treatment, to no antiarrhythmic drug therapy. The patients were followed-up for 12 to 24 months (mean 16+/-4). The drug arm patients had a 57% reduction in the risk of developing permanent atrial fibrillation (21% vs 37%, P=0.02). Evaluation after 12 months revealed similar quality of life scores and echocardiographic parameters in the two groups, but the drug arm patients had more episodes of heart failure and hospitalizations (P=0.05). The outcome was similar between the 40 patients who developed permanent atrial fibrillation and the 97 who did not. CONCLUSION: Conventional antiarrhythmic therapy reduces the risk of development of permanent atrial fibrillation after ablation and pacing therapy. The present data do not support the concept that the development of permanent atrial fibrillation is related to an adverse outcome when a perfect control of heart rate is obtained by ablation and pacing.

Deaths with acute cerebral lesion and heart-beating potential organ donors in the Veneto region.

BACKGROUND: The study was aimed at describing the clinical characteristics of dead patients with acute cerebral lesion and analyzing reasons of the shortage of heart-beating potential organ donors in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in the Veneto Region. METHODS: Data have been prospectively recorded in 23 ICUs over six months for deceased patients with acute cerebral lesion (clinical data, death diagnosis) and for any potential organ donor (medical suitability, family interview, organ retrieval). RESULTS: In the ICUs of the Veneto Region in 1998 deceased patients with acute cerebral lesion were 187 per million population (p.m.p.); 317 cases have been studied. Median age was 64 years (range 7-93). Heart-beating death was legally confirmed only in 98/317 cases (31%) against a clinical diagnosis of brain death in 203/317 (64%). Only 82/317 (26%) were considered eligible donors and 48/317 (15%) became real donors (22.8 p.m.p.). Among the remaining 235 cadavers, 105 were over 70 years old. In the group of 130 under 70 years absolute contraindications were present only in 30 and problematical clinical situations were reported in 100. CONCLUSIONS: The number of deaths with acute cerebral lesion represents a sensible index and a key factor for evaluating the potential organ donor pool in small regions and in the single intensive care unit. Collected data demonstrate that in the Veneto Region the efficiency of solid organ retrieval can be improved and that organ donor shortage may depend, beyond family refusal, on clinical and cultural factors that hamper stabilized heart-beating deaths. Most potential donors with age over 70 or problematical clinical situations are preventively excluded by ICUs physicians. To improve organ donation all the patients who die in spite of neuro-intensive treatment should be prevented from circulatory arrest to permit legal declaration of death. Thus more potential organ donors without absolute contraindications could be recovered and time would exist for discussing any problematical situation with experts in organ procurement, particularly in respect to existing urgencies in the waiting list.

Orthodromic tachycardia with atrioventricular dissociation: evidence for a nodoventricular (Mahaim) fiber.

We describe a patient in whom two tachycardias with AV dissociation were inducible by ventricular extrastimulation. The first tachycardia was characterized by a narrow QRS preceded by a His deflection with an HV interval identical to that recorded in sinus rhythm (40 ms). Premature ventricular depolarization delivered when the His bundle was refractory advanced the next His deflection. These findings suggest the presence of a nodoventricular bypass tract involved in an orthodromic tachycardia. The second tachycardia was induced after propafenone infusion and exhibited a wide QRS complex with left bundle branch block morphology; each ventricular complex was consistently associated with a His deflection with a HV interval of -15 ms. The second tachycardia may be considered to represent an antidromic tachycardia through the nodoventricular tract. However, a ventricular tachycardia cannot be excluded.

Biventricular pacing and atrioventricular junction ablation as treatment of low output syndrome due to refractory congestive heart failure and chronic atrial fibrillation.

A 71-year-old male patient with end-stage heart failure, atrial fibrillation, congestive and low output symptoms, underwent biventricular pacing and atrioventricular junction ablation while anuric and hypotensive. Following atrioventricular junction ablation blood pressure increased by 20 mmHg during biventricular but not during right ventricular apical pacing. A rapid clinical improvement was observed and the patient was discharged from the hospital in NYHA functional class III.

[Termination of idiopathic ventricular tachycardia with QRS morphology of right bundle branch block and anterior fascicular hemiblock (fascicular tachycardia) by vagal maneuvers. Presentation of 4 cases]. / Interruzione della tachicardia ventricolare idiopatica con morfologia del QRS tipo blocco di branca destra ed emiblocco fascicolare anteriore (tachicardia fascicolare) con le manovre vagali. Presentazione di 4 casi.

We present 4 patients aged 51, 19, 22 and 16 years respectively, with no overt heart disease. They complained of recurrent episodes of paroxysmal sustained tachycardia with QRS morphology of right bundle branch block and left fascicular hemiblock. The analysis of the electrocardiogram during the tachycardia and, in two cases, the electrophysiologic study showed a complete a-v dissociation and capture beats confirming the ventricular origin of the arrhythmia. In all the patients the interruption of the tachycardia was obtained by the vagal maneuvers; in two of them the tachycardia was also sensitive to verapamil iv. These cases demonstrate the efficacy of the vagal maneuvers in the termination of fascicular tachycardia and support the hypothesis of slow-response nodal-like fibers, distally displaced, as the anatomical substrate of this arrhythmia.

Programmed chest-wall stimulation to evaluate the progress of A-V block after pacemaker insertion in patients with trifascicular disease.

Twenty six patients (aged 46-80, mean age 64) with bifascicular block in the presence of prolonged H-V interval (trifascicular block), were followed for an average of 31 months after inserting an R-wave inhibited pacemaker (PM) because of syncope and/or dizzy attacks. The underlying rhythm was evaluated at 4-6-month intervals by three different techniques: 1) 12-lead ECG when intrinsic patient rate was faster than PM rate; 2) abrupt PM inhibition (APMI) by the rapid chest-wall stimulation technique, and 3) progressive PM inhibition (PPMI) using a programmed chest-wall stimulation technique capable of decreasing the PM rate gradually to 30 beats/min before complete PM inhibition. In addition, the PPMI allowed the underlying rhythm to be induced and sustained and properly evaluated without any discomfort to the patient. Following PM insertion, 4 patients (15%) developed complete heart block after a mean follow-up of 43 months, and one patient (4%) developed 2nd degree 2:1 A-V block (VX) after 83 months. The P-R interval increased in 5 patients (19%) and decreased in 2 (8%). No change of A-V conduction was found in 9 patients (34%). Three patients developed low atrial rhythm, atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation, respectively (12%). After PM insertion 2 patients still complained of dizziness. None reported syncope. Two patients died during follow-up, both of congestive heart failure (8%). By detection of intrinsic rhythm it was recognized that a long symptomatic paroxysmal phase may precede the development of chronic complete A-V block. Therefore, the insertion of a permanent PM is recommended in patients with unexplained neurologic symptoms and trifascicular disease, without waiting for documented episodes of complete A-V block.