Atrial Arrhythmia Burden (SMURDEN) After Ablation of AF Is Associated With Improvement in Quality of Life.

BACKGROUND

Among patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided fibrosis ablation did not reduce arrhythmia recurrence compared with pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) alone.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to assess the determinants of symptom and quality of life (QoL) change after PVI with or without MRI-guided ablation.

METHODS

This prespecified DECAAF II (Efficacy of Delayed Enhancement-MRI-Guided Fibrosis Ablation vs Conventional Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation) trial analysis included patients with persistent AF who had symptom severity scores before and after ablation. Patients were provided with a smartphone-based electrocardiography device for single-lead AF burden (SMURDEN) assessment. Participants completed the Atrial Fibrillation Symptom Severity (AFSS) and Short-Form 36 (SF-36) surveys at baseline, 3 months, and 12 months postablation. Symptom and QoL improvement determinants were explored through univariable and multivariable linear models.

RESULTS

Surveys from 750 patients were analyzed, revealing balanced baseline AFSS and SF-36 scores between the treatment arms (AFSS symptom score: 12.3 ± 8.2 for PVI and 12.0 ± 8.0 for MRI-guided fibrosis ablation; P = 0.670). Symptoms improved in both arms (AFSS symptom score: 6.8 ± 0.5 for PVI and 7.3 ± 0.5 for MRI-guided fibrosis ablation; P = 0.114). Patients without AF recurrence exhibited greater improvement in most of the SF-36 subcategories and AFSS subcategories (P < 0.05). SMURDEN showed a correlation with QoL improvement and was the only predictor of no improvement or symptom worsening (R = 0.31; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients who experienced AF recurrence reported diminished symptom and QoL improvements. SMURDEN emerged as the most significant predictor of symptom improvement and was the only independent factor associated with a lack of improvement or worsening of symptoms.