A worldwide survey on incidence, management and prognosis of oesophageal fistula formation following atrial fibrillation catheter ablation: The POTTER-AF study

AIMS

Oesophageal fistula represents a rare but dreadful complication of atrial fibrillation catheter ablation. Data on its incidence, management and outcome are sparse.

METHODS AND RESULTS

This international multicenter registry investigates the characteristics of oesophageal fistulae after treatment of atrial fibrillation by catheter ablation. A total of 553,729 catheter ablation procedures (radiofrequency: 62.9%, cryoballoon: 36.2%, other modalities: 0.9%) were performed at 214 centers in 35 countries. In 78 centers 138 patients (0.025%, radiofrequency: 0.038%, cryoballoon: 0.0015% (p<0.0001)) were diagnosed with an oesophageal fistula. Periprocedural data were available for 118 patients (85.5%). Following catheter ablation, the median time to symptoms and the median time to diagnosis were 18 (7.75, 25; range: 0-60) days and 21 (15, 29.5; range: 2-63) days, respectively. The median time from symptom onset to oesophageal fistula diagnosis was 3 (1, 9; range: 0-42) days. The most common initial symptom was fever (59.3%). The diagnosis was established by chest computed tomography in 80.2% of patients. Oesophageal surgery was performed in 47.4% and direct endoscopic treatment in 19.8%, and conservative treatment in 32.8% of patients. The overall mortality was 65.8%. Mortality following surgical (51.9%) or endoscopic treatment (56.5%) was significantly lower as compared to conservative management (89.5%) (odds ratio 7.463 (2.414, 23.072) p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Oesophageal fistula after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation is rare and occurs mostly with the use of radiofrequency energy rather than cryoenergy. Mortality without surgical or endoscopic intervention is exceedingly high.

Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation After Atrial Flutter Ablation With Ramipril (from the PREFACE Study)

The clinical efficacy of the inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) as an upstream therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF) prevention is controversial. No study has itemized so far the role of RAAS inhibitors in AF prevention after atrial flutter (AFL) ablation. This trial aims to investigate the effect of ramipril compared with placebo on AF occurrence in patients hospitalized for AFL ablation without structural heart disease. The Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation by Inhibition Conversion Enzyme (ICE) After Radiofrequency Ablation of Atrial Flutter (PREFACE) trial was a prospective, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy trial depicting the AF occurrence during a 12-month follow-up as the primary end point. A total of 198 patients hospitalized for AFL ablation were enrolled in the trial and randomized to placebo or ramipril 5 mg/day. Patients were followed up during 1 year after AFL ablation using 1-week Holter electrocardiogram at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. The intention-to-treat population encompassed 97 patients in the ramipril group and 101 patients in the placebo group. The primary end point, such as AF occurrence during the 1-year follow-up, was not different between the 2 groups (p = 0.96). Secondary end points, including the occurrence of supraventricular arrhythmia (p = 0.50), heart failure, stroke, and death, were not different between the 2 groups. Safety outcome parameters, including serious adverse events leading to treatment disruption (p = 0.10), hypotension, impairment of renal function, and elevated serum potassium level, also were not different between the 2 groups. In conclusion, RAAS inhibition using ramipril does not reduce AF occurrence in patients facing AFL ablation during the 1-year follow-up.

[Ventricular arrythmia and sport practice: A Gallavardin's ventricular tachycardia during exercice in healthy heart, about a case and review of the literature]

Regular physical exercice has undeniable cardiovascular benefits and improves life expectancy. This benefice seems limited to moderate intensity exercises. Intense and chronic physical exercice would lead to heart structural changes. For a long time, knowledge of these cardiac effects seemed limited to the left ventricle. Since more authors have shown that right ventricle is vulnerability to the effects of intense chronic training. We report a Gallavardin-type ventricular stress tachycardia in a young with healthy hearted; in whom a right infundibular arrhythmogenic focus has been found in the absence of structural alteration of the right ventricle. Intense athletic activity may reveal a latent arrhythmogenic focus through sympathetic activation. Ablation was the preferred therapeutic strategy, preferred to drug therapy and derived from an analysis of risk-benefit ratios.

Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Closure Is a Reasonable Option for Patients With Atrial Fibrillation at High Risk for Cerebrovascular Events

Background—

Percutaneous left atrial appendage (LAA) closure is an emerging option for patients with atrial fibrillation at high risk for cerebrovascular events. The multicenter FLAAC registry (French Nationwide Observational LAA Closure Registry) was established to assess LAA closure outcomes in everyday practice.

Methods and Results—

Four hundred thirty-six patients referred from April 2013 to September 2015 to 33 French interventional cardiology centers for percutaneous LAA closure were included prospectively in the FLAAC registry. Mean age was 75.4±0.4 years. The stroke risk was high (mean CHA 2 DS 2 –VASc score, 4.5±0.1) and most patients had experienced clinically significant bleeding (HAS-BLED score, 3.1±0.05). The device used was Amplatzer LAA occluder in 58% and the Watchman device in 42% of the patients. The procedural success rate was 98.4%. Median postprocedure follow-up was 12.0 (11.8–12.0) months and a single patient was lost to follow-up. During the periprocedural and subsequent follow-up period, procedure-related severe adverse events occurred in 21 (4.9%) and 10 (2.3%) patients, respectively. One-year cumulative incidences of ischemic stroke and cerebral hemorrhage were 2.9% (1.6–5.0) and 1.5% (0.7–3.2), respectively. Overall, 1-year mortality was 9.3% (6.9–12.5) with 7 of the 39 deaths related or possibly related to the device or procedure.

Conclusions—

This nationwide prospective registry shows that, in the French population, LAA closure is mainly used in patients with high comorbidity rates and a poor prognosis. LAA closure in such patients seems reasonable to decrease the stroke rate. The overall health status of these patients should be taken into account during the preprocedural evaluation process.

Clinical Trial Registration—

URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT02252861.