Conference Coverage
Joint European atrial fibrillation guidelines break new ground
ROME – The novel oral anticoagulants are now strongly recommended over warfarin for stroke prevention.
New-onset atrial fibrillation after aortic valve replacement was not an independent risk factor for decreased long-term survival, according to the results of a single-center, retrospective study reported by Ben M. Swinkels, MD, of St Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, and his colleagues in the Netherlands.
Key to this success, however, is restoring normal sinus rhythm before hospital discharge, they said.
In this retrospective, longitudinal cohort study, 569 consecutive patients with no history of AF who underwent AVR with or without concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting during 1990-1993 were followed for a mean of 17.8 years (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2017;154:492-8).
Thirty-day and long-term survival rates were determined in the 241 patients (42%) with and the 328 patients (58%) without new-onset postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF), which was defined as electrocardiographically documented AF lasting for at least several hours, and occurring after AVR while the patient was still admitted. Standard therapy to prevent new onset POAF was the use of sotalol in patients who were not on beta-blocker therapy, and continuation of beta-blocker therapy for those who were already on it.
There were no significant differences between the two groups in demographic characteristics. There were also no significant differences between the two groups in operative characteristics, postoperative in-hospital adverse events, and postoperative hospital lengths of stay until discharge home, except for mechanical ventilation time, which was significantly longer in the patients with new-onset POAF (P = .011).
Thirty-day mortality was 1.2% in the patients with POAF, and 2.7% in those without, a nonsignificant difference. There was no statistically significant difference between the two survival curves and the Kaplan-Meier overall cumulative survival rates at 15 years of follow-up in the patients with new-onset POAF vs. those without were not statistically different (41.5% vs. 41.3%, respectively).
In addition, the 18-year probability of long-term first adverse events, including recurrent AF, transient ischemic attack, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, peripheral venous thromboembolism, or major or minor bleeding was not significantly different between the two groups.
“New-onset POAF after AVR does not affect long-term survival when treatment is aimed to restore sinus rhythm before the patient is discharged home. Future studies with a prospective, randomized design should be done to confirm this finding in patients undergoing different kinds of cardiac surgery,” the researchers concluded.
The study was funded by the authors’ home institution; the authors reported they had nothing to disclose.