Catheter ablation for treatment of bradycardia–tachycardia syndrome: is it time to consider it the therapy of choice? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Atrial fibrillation catheter ablation (AFCA) should be considered as a strategy to avoid pacemaker (PM) implantation for patients with bradycardia–tachycardia syndrome (BTS), but lack of evidence is remarkable. Methods Our aim was to conduct a random-effects model meta-analysis on safety and efficacy data from controlled trials and observational studies. We compared atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence, AF progression, procedural complication, additional procedure, cardiovascular death, cardiovascular hospitalization, heart failure and stroke in patients undergoing AFCA vs. PM implantation. Results PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Database and Google Scholar were screened, and four retrospective studies were selected. A total of 776 patients (371 in the AFCA group, 405 in the PM group) were included. After a median follow-up of 67.5 months, lower AF recurrence [odds ratio (OR) 0.06, confidence interval (CI) 0.02–0.18, I2 = 82.42%, P 
Source: Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine - Category: Cardiology Tags: Research articles: Arrhythmias Source Type: research