TITLE:
Atrial fibrillation ablation in patients with heart failure review
AUTHORS:
Mohammad I. Amin, Laurence D. Sterns, Richard A. Leather, Anthony S. Tang
KEYWORDS:
Atrial Fibrillation; Ablation; Heart Failure
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases,
Vol.3 No.1,
January
24,
2013
ABSTRACT: Atrial fibrillation and
heart failure often coexist in patients with advanced heart failure symptoms. The result, in addition to
a significant impact on quality of life, is an increase in the risk of a
adverse clinical outcomes including stroke, hospitalization and overall
mortality. Pharmacological therapy for atrial fibrillation in the heart
failure population remains limited due to sub-optimal drug efficacy and a
likely increased mortality due to pro-arrhythmia. Atrial fibrillation ablation,
since it allows for therapy without the need for toxic medication, has the
potential to become mainstream treatment in
patients with drug refractory, symptomatic atrial fibrillation and heart
failure. Randomized studies and observational data suggest that atrial
fibrillation ablation provides superior rhythm control to anti-arrhythmic
drugs. Atrial fibrilla- tion ablation is relatively safe and may result in improvement of left ventricular
function and quality of life. Ongoing
studies are attempting to assess a number of outcome measures to help define
its role in the heart failure patient population. This review focuses on atrial
fibrillation ablation in patients with congestive heart failure, and summarizes
the results of available literature.