Arrhythmias & electrophysiologyCohort study
Incidence and patterns of atrial fibrillation after catheter ablation of typical atrial flutter—the FLUTFIB study
- Cohort study
- implantable loop recorder monitoring
Authors' conclusion
This study represents the largest investigation using implantable loop recorders (ILRs) to detect AF after AFL ablation and shows a high incidence of AF episodes, most of them being asymptomatic and lasting longer than 1 h.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with atrial flutter (AFL) without prior atrial fibrillation (AF) diagnosis after cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI) ablation
- Participants
- 100 patients
- Outcome
- Incidence of AF detected by implantable loop recorder
- Follow-up
- Median 24 months
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
AF incidence detected by implantable loop recorder
Patients diagnosed with AF episodes
77 (77%)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Time to first AF occurrence
- Median time to first AF occurrence, days
- 180 (43-298)
AF episode duration
- Episodes lasted longer than 1 h
- 45/77, 58%
AF-associated symptoms
- Patients with AF-associated symptoms
- 40 (52%)
Predictors of AF
- Similar baseline characteristics with and without AF; neither HATCH- nor CHA2DS2-VASc scores predictive of AF
Oral anticoagulation (OAC) management · during follow-up
- OAC stopped during follow-up
- 32 (32%)
- OAC re-initiated after AF detection
- 15 (15%)
Safety
Stroke or TIA · during follow-up
- No strokes or TIA episodes observed
Original publication
Incidence and patterns of atrial fibrillation after catheter ablation of typical atrial flutter—the FLUTFIB study. Europace. Published 1 February 2024. doi:10.1093/europace/euad348
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it