Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation in patients with hyperthyroidism

Aims To study the clinical efficacy of catheter ablation for treating patients with hyperthyroidism-related atrial fibrillation (AF). Materials and methods The study involved 16 patients (12 males; age, 59.8 ± 11.3 years) with hyperthyroidism-related AF, who had all been euthyroid for more than 3 months but still suffered from highly symptomatic and antiarrhythmia drug (AAD)-refractory AF. Circumferential pulmonary vein ablation (CPVA) guided by a 3-D mapping system was carried out to encircle the ipsilateral pulmonary veins (PVs) with a procedural endpoint of continuity of the circular lesions and PV isolation. Success was defined as the absence of any atrial tachyarrhythmia (ATa) off AADs beyond the first 3 months after the procedure. Results CPVA was safely carried out in each of the 16 patients without any complications. PV isolation was achieved in all the treated PVs. After a mean follow-up of 15.8 ± 11.8 (range, 6–55) months, 9 patients (56%) were free of ATa without any AADs beyond the first 3 months. AF relapsed in the remaining 7 patients, among whom 4 responded to AAD therapy and 3 were totally unresponsive. Conclusion For patients suffering hyperthyroidism-related AF, CPVA guided by a 3-D mapping system could represent one of the therapeutic options. Drs. Chang Sheng Ma and Xu Liu are co-first authors for this paper.