Post PCI Atrial Fibrillation clinical trials

Atrial Fibrillation After CABG and PCI

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia seen in clinical practice and is associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart failure and death. Oral anticoagulation (OAC) is the only treatment so far being able to reduce mortality in AF patients, despite new antiarrhythmic drugs and ablation techniques. Postoperative AF affects one-third of patients undergoing aortocoronary bypass surgery (CABG). Postoperative AF is associated with an increased 30-day mortality compared to patients who are in sinus rhythm during the hospital stay. . The risk of future AF is increased in patients with postoperative AF, and one-fourth of patients with an episode of postoperative AF develop later AF. At six years follow-up, 9.1% of patients with postoperative AF have had a lethal or non-lethal episode of ischemic stroke, compared to 3.0% of patients in SR (p=.002). Atrial fibrillation is a common complication of myocardial infarction, with an incidence of new-onset AF between 5-20%. New-onset AF occurs postoperatively in 5-6% of patients undergoing acute percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and is marker of adverse outcomes. However, studies of heart rhythm beyond the post procedural period following PCI are lacking. About one third of all AF is asymptomatic, silent and often paroxysmal. The risk of stroke seems to be the same for silent AF as for those with symptomatic AF. In trials comparing PCI and CABG, there is a consistent difference in stroke rate. Several studies have shown an increased risk of late cardiovascular death and ischemic stroke in postoperative AF patients, and the difference in stroke rate between PCI and CABG may be explained by unprotected episodes of AF after discharge. The investigators therefore hypothesize that patients undergoing CABG have an increased risk of silent AF postoperatively compared to patients undergoing PCI and that this difference may explain some of the differences in stroke rate between PCI and CABG patients.