Atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia ablation (avnrt), a female disease. insights from the german ablation registry

Background The German Ablation registry is a multi-centre prospective registry for electrophysiologic ablation procedures. Purpose We herein report on catheter ablation of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) according to underlying gender. Methods From January 2007 until January 2010 a total of 2918 patients [64.4% female, 55 (43; 67) years] undergoing catheter ablation of AVNRT were enrolled in this registry and followed for at least one year. Results Female patients undergoing ablation for AVNRT were significantly younger than male patients [52 (41; 66) versus 60 (47; 70); p<0.001] and had less structural heart disease than male patients [12,1 % (228/1880) versus 30,8 % (320/1038)]. Female patients more often had ≥ one arrhythmia episode per month [73,7 % versus 68,1 %; p<0.001], nevertheless arrhythmia documentation was less often present in female patients [81,7 % versus 85,4 %; p=0.012]. Success rate was high (98,9 %) and major complications prior to discharge (death, myocardial infarction, stroke) were rare (1/2917) without significant difference between female and male patients. During a follow-up period of 682.9 ± 172,9 days, female patients more often experienced arrhythmia recurrences [19,1 % versus 13,8 %; p<0.001]. Conclusions Almost two-thirds of patients undergoing ablation for AVNRT included in the German ablation registry were female. Female patients were younger and less often had structural heart disease or other comorbidities than male patients undergoing AVNRT ablation. Success rates and complication rates were similar. During follow-up female patients more often experienced arrhythmia recurrences.