Incidence of late thromboembolic events after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation.

Background: A low incidence of thromboembolic events after successful catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) during a mid-term follow-up period was recently reported. However, because the incidence of such events over the long term is unknown, we investigated the late incidence of thromboembolic events after catheter ablation.

Results: Patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF undergoing catheter ablation and being followed up for at least 24 months formed the study group (n = 524); 82 patients (16%) had CHADS₂ scores of at least 2. Mean follow-up was 44 ± 13 months. Warfarin was discontinued in 400 (93%) of 429 patients (82% of 524 patients) without AF recurrence. None of the patients without AF recurrence suffered thromboembolic events, whereas 3 of 95 patients (3%) with AF recurrence did (P < 0.001). One of the 3 was a late AF recurrence occurring > 12 months after catheter ablation. There were 2 nonfatal major hemorrhagic events in patients with AF recurrence who continued on warfarin, but no hemorrhagic events were observed in patients free from AF (P = 0.002).

Conclusions: Maintenance of sinus rhythm after catheter ablation of AF was associated with a lower incidence of thromboembolic events during long-term follow-up >3 years. This result suggests that catheter ablation reduces thromboembolic events if patients continue anticoagulation regardless of the ablation outcome.