Holter Monitoring and Echocardiography for Predicting the Effectiveness of Pulmonary Vien Isolation in Patients With Paroxysmal and Persistent Atrial Fibrillation

Aim. To evaluate the impact of the atrial ectopic activity and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction on predicting the effectiveness of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) in patients with paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods. 54 patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF and the normal left ventricular ejection fraction were included in the study. Patients underwent Holter monitoring and echocardiography prior to the intervention to identify the predictors of successful PVI. The follow-up was 12 months after the indexed procedure. The effectiveness of treatment was assessed from the third month of the postoperative period. The criterion of the successful treatment was the absence of the AF paroxysms lasting more than 30 seconds, confirmed by Holter, diurnal and / or multi-day monitoring. The Student's t-test was used to assess the reliability of the differences between the variables characterizing the treatment results in the study groups. The discriminant analysis was performed to develop an algorithm that allows predicting the PVI result. A p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results. Premature atrial contraction over 70 per hour can be considered as the predictor of the successful PVI in patients with normal left atrial size. The severe LA enlargement should be considered as a predictor of poor ablation efficacy. The obtained discriminant function allows predicting the effectiveness of PVI in patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF depending on Holter monitoring and echocardiography. Its sensitivity is high for both predicting success and failure of the intervention. Conclusion. Holter monitoring and echocardiography allow predicting the effectiveness of PVI. The intervention's efficacy in the groups of patients with severe LA enlargement and the combination of normal left atrial size with over 70 PAC per hour should be addressed in the further studies.