Impact of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation on cardiac disorders in patients with coexisting heart failure

Aims We sought to investigate the time course of cardiac disorders after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with coexisting heart failure (HF) during long-term follow-up. Methods and results We analysed consecutive 280 patients undergoing first-time catheter ablation for AF who had coexisting HF, which was defined as prior HF hospitalization, estimated right ventricular systolic pressure >= 45 mmHg, or B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) >= 200 pg/dL before the procedure. The primary endpoints were improvements in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), E/e ', BNP, left atrial dimension (LAD), and mitral regurgitation (MR) at 1 year. The secondary endpoints were serial changes of LVEF, E/e ', BNP, LAD, and MR at 6 months, 1 year, and 5 years and cumulative incidence of HF hospitalization. During the mean follow-up of 5.1 +/- 3.0 years, 70.7% of patients were free from recurrent AF. Among patients with LVEF < 50%, E/e ' >= 15, BNP >= 200 pg/dL, LAD >= 40 mm, and moderate-to-severe MR, changes in those parameters from baseline to 1 year were 34.5 +/- 9.9% to 43.2 +/- 14.4% (P < 0.001), 19.7 +/- 3.9 to 12.5 +/- 6.6 (P < 0.001), 290 to 85 pg/dL (P < 0.001), and 100% to 37.8% (P < 0.001), respectively. The improvements in the cardiac disorders were maintained up to 5 years except for E/e '. In patients with LVEF < 40%, significant delayed improvement of LVEF beyond 1 year was observed (Delta LVEF = 10.5 +/- 18.5, P = 0.001), but not in patients with LVEF of 40-49%. The cumulative incidence of HF hospitalization was 12.6% at 5 years. Baseline diastolic dysfunction was the only independent predictor for subsequent HF hospitalization. Conclusions In patients undergoing AF ablation with coexisting HF, all cardiac disorders significantly improved after the procedure, which was mostly maintained during 5 year follow-up.