Radiofrequency Ablation Procedures in Greece: Initial Experience and Results from the National Registry 2008-2010

Introduction: In 2008 the radiofrequency ablation procedures (RFA) registry of the Hellenic Cardiological Society (HCS) was created. This is a dynamic, web-based application, which acts as the interface for storing and retrieving patients' demographic data and ablation procedures. Access to the site is permitted only to registered users. The purpose of this study is to report the results of RFA procedures performed in Greece over the 2008-2010 period. Methods: There are 27 centers in 24 hospitals that are licensed to perform RFA in Greece. During the period 2008-2010, 3541 RFA procedures were performed in 3344 patients in 23 centers. Four centers did not contribute data at all for various reasons. It is interesting that nearly 50% of the total number of procedures were performed at 3 high volume centers (> 100 cases/year). Results: The most common procedure was slow pathway ablation for atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia, the second was ablation of accessory pathway related tachycardias, and the third was ablation of atrial fibrillation. Success rates were high (92.1%), the complication rate was 3% (serious complications < 1%) and total relapse rate was 8.7% at six months' follow up. Conclusions: The electronic RFA registry in Greece confirmed that all RFA procedures are performed in Greece with high success and low complication rates, comparable to the European and US standards. The experience and results from the first three-year period using the registry are very interesting and encouraging, thus indicating the need for development of similar databases at the national level.