title: The effect of antiarrhythmic medication management on atrial fibrillation ablation outcomes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients commonly present for atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation while taking antiarrhythmic (AA) medications. It is unknown if AA use at the time of ablation affects procedural outcome. This study compares the AF ablation outcomes of patients who underwent ablation while on AA medications to those who were not on AA medications.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 180 consecutive patients who underwent their first catheter ablation of AF were identified from the Johns Hopkins Hospital AF registry and divided into 2 cohorts: those On AA at the time of ablation (127 patients, mean follow-up 24.6 months) and those Off AA at the time of ablation (53 patients, mean follow-up 20.3 months). Follow-up was performed to identify recurrent AF. There was no statistically significant difference in the percentage of patients without a recurrence of symptomatic AF (single procedure success rate) in the On and Off AA groups at 6 months postablation (53.5% vs 50.1%, P = 0.75), or by the end of follow-up (37.8% vs 41.5%, P = 0.64). For those patients who had symptomatic AF recurrence, the average time to recurrence was 6.2 ± 9.0 months in the On AA group and 4.2 ± 7.2 months in the Off AA group (P = 0.27).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of symptomatic AF recurrence between the On AA and Off AA groups in this study. The use of AA medications at the time of ablation does not appear to affect procedural outcomes in this population.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Dukes
authors.forename: Karuna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chilukuri
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scherr
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Marine
authors.forename: Ronald D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Saman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nazarian
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Spragg
authors.forename: Hugh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Calkins
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Henrikson
mesh_terms: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D022062:Electrophysiologic Techniques, Cardiac; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents
keywords: ablation outcomes population; antiarrhythmic medications; atrial fibrillation; catheter ablation