The Long-Term Safety of Anticoagulation Strategy after Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of standard anticoagulation (SA) over 3 months after radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) of atrial fibrillation (AF) in comparison with the early-stopped warfarinization (EW) within 3 months. Methods and Results: We compared safety between SA (n=50) and EW (n=59) group in 109 patients who underwent RFCA of AF (78 males, 55.9±11 years old, paroxysmal AF 59.6%, CHADS2 score 1.5±0.9, duration of follow up 693.1±234.6 days, duration of AF 46.7±42.5 months). There was no significant difference in CHADS2 score (1.5±0.9 vs 1.4±0.8, P=NS) between SA and EW group. Compared to EW group, uninterrupted preprocedural warfarinization (70.6% vs 39.4%, P=0.014) was greater in SA group, therefore, INR value (1.47±0.51 vs 1.14±0.28, P=0.002) at the procedure was higher. However, the incidence of hemorrhagic complications (11.9% vs 6.0%, P=NS) or the thromboembolic events (1.7% vs 0.0%, P=NS) was not different between two groups. Conclusion: In patients with low to intermediate risk of thromboembolism (mean CHADS2 1.5) early stopped warfarinization within 3 months after catheter ablation of AF had comparable safety with warfarinization over 3 months. Further prospective study in large scale is warranted to determine long-term safety of each anticoagulation strategy.