Sustained high quality of life in a 5-year long term follow-up after successful ablation for supra-ventricular tachycardia. results from a large retrospective patient cohort.
BACKGROUND
The ablation of supraventricular tachycardias (SVT) using radiofrequency energy (RF) is a procedure with a high primary success rate. However, there is a scarcity of data regarding the long term outcome, particularly with respect to quality of life (QoL).


RESULTS
In this retrospective single-center study, 454 patients who underwent ablation of SVT between 2002 and 2007 received a detailed questionnaire addressing matters of QoL. The questionnaire was a modified version of the SF-36 Health Survey questionnaire and the Symptom Checklist--Frequency and Severity Scale.After a mean follow up of 4.5+/-1.3 years, 309 (68.1%) of the contacted 454 patients (269 female, 59.2%, mean age 58+/-6.5) completed the questionnaire. Despite of 27% of relapses in the study group, 91.7% considered the procedure a long-term success. The remainder of patients experienced no change in (3.7%) or worsening of (4.7%) symptoms. There were no significant differences between the various types of SVT (p=1). QoL in patients with Atrio-Ventricular Nodal Reentry Tachycardia (AVNRT) and Atrio-Ventricular Reentry Tachycardia (AVRT) improved significantly (p<0.0005 respectively p<0.043), whereas QoL in patients with Ectopic Atrial Tachycardia (EAT) showed a non-significant trend towards improvement. Main symptoms before ablation, such as tachycardia (91.5%), increased incidence of tachycardia episodes over time (78.1%), anxiety (55.5%) and reduced physical capacity in daily life (52%) were significantly improved after ablation (p<0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
The high acute ablation success of SVT persists for years in long term follow up and translates into a significant improvement of QoL in most patients.
Meissner
Axel
A
Department of Cardiology and Angiology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. axel.meissner@ruhr-universität-bochum.de
Stifoudi
Irini
I
Weismüller
Peter
P
Schrage
Max-Olav
MO
Maagh
Petra
P
Christ
Martin
M
Butz
Thomas
T
Trappe
Hans-Joachim
HJ
Plehn
Gunnar
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013617:Tachycardia, Supraventricular / Q000601:surgery*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome