Why the study?
Post-operative AF occurs in a third of patients after cardiac surgery, prompting an investigation into its incidence post aortic valve replacement and whether clinical and echocardiographic parameters can predict it.
Over half of patients undergoing aortic valve replacement develop post-operative atrial fibrillation, with hypertension, poor left ventricular function, and increased left atrial diameter serving as significant predictors.
May identify AVR patients at higher POAF risk; leaves open whether parameters should guide management.
Aim Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent arrhythmia. Post-Operative AF (POAF) occurs in a third of patients post cardiac surgery. We aim to explore the incidence of AF post aortic valve replacement (AVR) and whether clinical and echocardiographic parameters can predict the likelihood of AF and therefore influence the management of patients. Method Our study consisted of 985 patients who underwent AVR between 2018 – 2019 from a single major cardiothoracic surgery centre in the UK. Data was collected from the electronic patient records retrospectively. Results Mean age of the cohort was 71.8 years (27-92). There were more males (68.2%, n = 672) than females (31.8%, n = 313). A majority of patients (51.8%, n = 510) developed an episode of AF in the post-operative period, of which 65.1% was new onset (n = 330). Incidence of post-operative AF was associated with more HTN (p = 0.007), poor left ventricular function as well as increased left atrial diameter (P = <0.001). Conclusions There is a high incidence of AF following AVR surgery. Comorbidities as well as left atrial diameter have a statistically significant relationship with this incidence and could be used as predictors of postoperative atrial fibrillation.
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Abu-Baker et al. (2021) studied this question.
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