The clinical impact of left atrial pressure (LAP) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing successful radiofrequency catheter ablation remains largely unknown. In this study, we explored the impact of LAP on the incidence of post-cardiac ablation syndrome in 116 patients with paroxysmal (group P, n = 72) or persistent (group N, n = 44) AF. Patients in both groups received either pulmonary vein antrum isolation or stepwise ablation. LAP was measured before ablation and immediately after ablation. Post-cardiac ablation syndrome were collected and proBNP, hsCRP were detected respectively. Post-cardiac ablation syndrome was diagnosed in 14 patients (2 in group P, 12 in group N). Group N had a higher incidence rate (27.3% vs. 2.8%, P = 0.001). There is a significant difference of LAP in both groups, whether before ablation (12.4 +/- 4.8 mmHg vs. 16.7 +/- 4.1 mmHg; P = 0.044) or after ablation (17.5 +/- 6.7 mmHg vs. 23.6 +/- 3.3 mmHg; P = 0.042). Compared with pre-ablation, the post-ablation LAP had significant increase in both group P (P = 0.001) and N (P = 0.01). After ablation, in patients with the post-cardiac ablation syndrome, the level of Delta LAP was higher than that in patients without the post-cardiac ablation syndrome (8.4 +/- 3.7 mmHg vs. 4.2 +/- 2.7 mmHg, P = 0.003). The level of proBNP, hsCRP and WBC increased gradually during first several days after the ablation treatment, and then declined. In conclusions, AF patients with increased post-ablation left atrial pressure, paired with increased proBNP and hsCRP were more likely to have a post-cardiac ablation syndrome.
