Cardiac rehabilitation after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation in patients with left ventricular dysfunction

AbstractFew studies have examined the efficacy and safety of cardiac rehabilitation in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who underwent AF ablation. We explored the feasibility of additional cardiac rehabilitation after AF ablation in patients with a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Fifty-four patients with heart failure (HF) and a reduced LVEF (HFrEF) (LVEF  <  50%; 67.1 ± 11.6 years; 43 men) who underwent initial AF ablation procedures were included. Fourteen (25.9%) patients underwent cardiac rehabilitation (rehabilitation-group) and the remaining 40 (74.1%) did not (non-rehabilitation-group) after the procedure. The rehabilitation-group patient s were relatively older, more likely female (p = 0.024), and had more likely a history of an HF hospitalization (p <  0.01) and cardiac device implantation (p = 0.041). The baseline LVEF was significantly lower (p = 0.043) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) (p <  0.01) and C-reactive protein (CRP) (p <  0.01) values were significantly higher in the rehabilitation-group. The 6-min walk distance significantly improved after 21.4 ± 11.5 days of cardiac rehabilitation during hospitalization (226.1 ± 155.9 vs. 398.1 ± 77.5 m,p = 0.016) without any adverse events. During an 18.9 ± 6.3 month follow-up period, the freedom from AF recurrence (p = 0.52) and re-hospitalizations due to HF (p = 0.63) were similar between the 2 groups. No deat...
Source: Heart and Vessels - Category: Cardiology Source Type: research