Safety, Feasibility and Economic Impact of Same-Day Discharge Following Atrial Fibrillation Ablation

The widely accepted model for atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation involves overnight hospital stay post-procedure. Day case AF ablation has been carried out at Royal Papworth Hospital (RPH) since early 2017. We evaluated the feasibility, safety and efficacy of day case AF ablation at RPH.

This was a retrospective, single-centre study of consecutive AF ablations at RPH between March 2017 and April 2018. Demographic, procedural and outcome data were analysed.

Over the study period, 452 AF ablations were performed in 448 patients. One hundred and twenty-nine (129) (28.5%) were planned day cases; of these 128 were discharged on the same day. Two hundred and eighty-three (283) procedures resulted in at least one night admission. There was no significant difference in age or sex between the groups. Of note, day case procedures were significantly shorter, more likely to commence in the morning and less likely to require general anaesthetic than overnight stays. Patients listed as day cases also had less far to travel. The overall complication rate was 3.3%, with no significant difference between groups. Follow-up data was available for 448 cases (99.1%). Procedural success rates were comparable between groups. The overall cost saving attributable to providing AF ablation as a day case was £67,200 over the 13-month period.

Day case AF ablation is efficacious and associated with a low event rate, even without strict standardisation of patient selection or procedural protocols, in a high-volume centre. Substantial reduction in health care expenditure can be achieved with more widespread implementation of outpatient AF ablation.