Impact of catheter ablation in patients with atrial flutter and concurrent heart failure

No studies assessed impact of atrial flutter (AFL) ablation on outcomes in patients with AFL and concurrent heart failure (HF).

To assess the effect of AFL ablation on mortality and HF readmissions in patients with AFL and HF.

This retrospective cohort study identified 15,952 patients with AFL and HF from the 2016-17 Nationwide Readmissions Database. The primary outcome was a composite of all-cause mortality and/or HF readmission at 1 year. Secondary outcomes included HF readmission, all-cause mortality, and atrial fibrillation (AF) readmission at 1 year. Propensity score match (1:2) algorithm was used to adjust for confounders. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to generate hazard ratios.

Of the 15,952 patients, 9889 had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and 6063 had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). In the matched HFrEF cohort (n = 5421), the primary outcome was significantly lower in patients undergoing ablation (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.61-0.85, P < .001). HF readmission (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.61-0.89, P = .001), all-cause mortality (HR 0.62, 95% CI 0.46-0.85, P = .003), and AF readmission (HR 0.63, 95% CI 0.48-0.82, P = .001) were also significantly reduced. In the matched HFpEF cohort (n = 2439), the primary outcome was lower in the group receiving ablation but was not statistically significant (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.63-1.01, P = .065).

In patients with AFL and HFrEF, AFL ablation was associated with lower mortality and HF readmissions at 1 year. Patients with AFL and HFpEF did not show a similar significant reduction in the primary outcome.