Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart disorder in adults over 40 years old. Researchers recently discovered an effective way to reduce the risk of death and stroke (usually five times higher in these patients than in the general population).
Atrial fibrillation, or atrial fibrillation (often called AF) is the most common heart rhythm disorder in adults over 40 years of age. Its incidence increases with age. According to High Authority of Health, “nearly 70% of patients with fibrillation are over 75 years old and its prevalence is over 10% in people over 80 (17% over 85)”.
It is estimated that 33 million people worldwide have it. We spot AF when “the palpitations are irregular”, explained in 2017 to Telegram Prof. Frédéric Anselme, cardiologist at Rouen University Hospital. “The left atrium of the heart no longer contracts”, the blood is poorly evacuated and stagnates in this part of the heart muscle. Overall, patients with AF are five times more likely to have a stroke.
The benefits of ablation 30 days after hospitalization
Fortunately, research is advancing. According to a recent American study, theCatheter ablation, instead of drug therapy alone, would reduce the risk of death and stroke in patients with AF. Currently, “less than 2% of patients undergo ablation at the onset of atrial fibrillation,” says Uma Srivatsa, professor of cardiovascular medicine at UC Davis Health and lead author of the study. “Our study shows that ablation can be considered a primary treatment for everyone.”
With his team, the Professor studied the medical records of patients hospitalized for AF between 2005 and 2013. Two groups of approximately 4000 people were compared: one had been treated by ablation and the other not. The results for the two groups were similar in terms of the rate of death, ischemic stroke, and hemorrhagic stroke within 30 days of hospitalization.
Beyond 30 days, however, the benefits of ablation were evident: 84 patients in the ablation group died, compared with 189 in the control group, 55 patients with ablation had ischemic strokes, compared with 86 in the control group. the control group and 17 patients of the first group had hemorrhagic strokes against 53 in the control group. In sum, the study confirms the overall short- and long-term safety of ablation as a treatment for AF, according to Srivatsa.
Ablation, a matter of life and death?
Until now, the reluctance of doctors to use ablation earlier and more often has been due to a lack of official data. Published in the journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, this study evaluates the results of treatment over a long period in a large number of multiethnic patients. “It is only with more robust and real studies like ours that we will be able to know what works best to treat patients with AF,” explains the researcher.
In an editorial published with the study, cardiologists at the University of Toronto wrote that although retrospective studies had some limitations, Prof Srivatsa and his colleagues managed to achieve encouraging results. They say randomized trials will determine “whether ablation is really a life or death situation.”
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