Clinical Evaluation of a Policy of Early Repeated Internal Cardioversion for Recurrence of Atrial Fibrillation

INTRODUCTION: The clinical value of cardioversion (CV) of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) is limited by the high rate of early AF recurrence, which may be related to the persistence of atrial electrical remodeling. We examined the hypothesis that the likelihood of maintaining sinus rhythm after CV of persistent AF is significantly enhanced by a policy of early repeated CV. METHODS AND RESULTS: Fifty-nine patients with persistent AF underwent internal CV (CV 1). Those patients cardioverted were monitored with daily transtelephonic ECG. In the event of AF recurrence, these patients were admitted rapidly for repeat CV (CV 2) and, if further recurrence occurred, a third CV (CV 3) was performed. Daily ECG monitoring was continued until 1 month of sinus rhythm was maintained or a total of three CVs were performed. Of the 59 patients undergoing CV 1, 43 were discharged in sinus rhythm and 29 subsequently had AF recurrence during monitoring. Twenty-three of these underwent CV 2 and 11 of these underwent CV 3. Of those having repeated CVs, only 4 patients maintained sinus rhythm for 1 month (3 after CV 2 and 1 after CV 3). The remaining patients had repeated AF recurrence during the monitoring period. Mean time from AF recurrence to CV 2 was 20+/-13 hours and from AF recurrence to CV 3 was 13+/-7.2 hours. Atrial effective refractory periods increased from 189+/-16 msec at CV 1 to 215+/-18 msec at CV 3 (P < 0.05), indicating reversal of atrial electrical remodeling during this period. CONCLUSION: A policy of early repeated CVs for AF recurrence has very limited clinical value despite evidence of reversal of atrial electrical remodeling. The time between AF recurrence and repeat CV may need to be reduced further if such a policy is to succeed.