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Temperature Changes During Electrophysiology Ablation in Veterans and 1-Year Success Rates: A Retrospective Pilot
Roman Schumann1, Matthew Yuyun2, Taruna Chandok3
1Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, VA Boston Healthcare System, West Roxbury, MA.
Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia
|June 21, 2023
Summary
Body core temperature significantly drops during cardiac ablation procedures. A greater temperature decrease is linked to reduced success rates for 1-year ablation, impacting patient outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Anesthesiology
- Medical Informatics
Background:
- Maintaining stable body core temperature during invasive procedures is crucial for patient outcomes.
- Cardiac arrhythmia ablation procedures, often performed under general anesthesia, may be associated with significant temperature fluctuations.
- Understanding factors influencing temperature changes and their impact on success rates is essential for optimizing patient care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the change in body core temperature during cardiac arrhythmia ablation procedures.
- To examine the association between temperature changes and patient or procedural factors.
- To determine if greater temperature decline negatively affects 1-year ablation success.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective observational study analyzing electronic medical records of 107 veterans undergoing ablation.
- Collected data included baseline, start, and end core temperatures, along with patient and procedural characteristics.
- Statistical analyses included paired t-tests and logistic regression to assess temperature changes and their association with 1-year ablation success.
Main Results:
- Core body temperatures significantly declined from baseline to the start and end of ablation procedures (p < 0.001).
- One-year ablation success rate was 74.8%.
- A greater degree of temperature decline from baseline to procedure end (BT-ET) and from procedure start to end (ST-ET) was significantly associated with lower odds of 1-year ablation success (ORs 0.57 and 0.42, respectively; p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
- Body core temperature demonstrably declines during cardiac ablation procedures performed under general anesthesia.
- Increased intra-procedural core temperature decline is an independent predictor of reduced 1-year ablation success.
- Monitoring and potentially managing intra-procedural temperature may be important for improving ablation outcomes.
Keywords:
1-year ablation successatrial fibrillationcatheter ablationcore temperatureelectrophysiology labgeneral anesthesia
