Objective: To explore the impact of echocardiographic parameter of diastolic dysfunction (E/A) on the recurrence of atrial ifbrillation (AF) in patients after catheter ablation.
Methods: We retrospectively studied 277 consecutive AF patients with circumferential pulmonary vein ablation (CPVA) in our hospital. According to E/A ratio, the patients were divided into 3 groups: Normal group, the patients with 0.75< E/A<2, n=203, Mild abnormal group, E/A≤0.75, n=53 and Severe abnormal group, E/A>2, n=21. The late AF recurrent rates were compared among different groups. The patients were divided into another 2 groups upon AF recurrence after CPVA: Recurrent group, n=57 patients with atrial arrhythmia lasted more than 30 seconds at 3 months after CPVA and Non-recurrent group, n=220. The clinical conditions were compared between 2 groups.
Results: The patients were followed-up for (374 ± 276) days. The AF recurrent rate in Severe abnormal group was 33.3%, in Mild abnormal group was 23.5% and in Normal group was 18.5%, P>0.05. The E/A ratio in Recurrent group was 1.22 ± 0.54, in Non-recurrent group was 1.19 ± 0.49, P=0.653. Univariate analysis indicated that the risk factors for AF recurrence included LVEDD and gender, not E/A ratio (P=0.236). Cox multivariate analysis indicated that with adjusted gender, hypertension, diabetes, LVEDD and LVESD, abnormal E/A ratio was the predictor for late AF recurrence (HR 2.29, 95%CI 1.01-5.19, P=0.046). With further adjusted LVEDD and E/A, the severe abnormal E/A ratio was still the predictor for AF recurrence (HR 2.27, 95%CI 1.01-5.12, P=0.047).
Conclusion: E/A ratio was the important predictor for AF recurrence in patients after CPVA.