Background: Radiofrequency ablation of the atrioventricular node and permanent pacing are used for symptomatic relief in patients with medically refractory atrial fibrillation. In this study, meta-analysis was used to clarify clinical outcomes and survival after ablation and pacing therapy using data from the published literature.
Methods and results: We used 21 studies with a total of 1181 patients in the meta-analysis. All patients had medically refractory atrial tachyarrhythmias, primarily atrial fibrillation (97%). Nineteen measures of clinical outcome, encompassing quality of life, ventricular function, exercise duration, and healthcare use, were derived from the studies. The meta-analysis demonstrated significant improvement after ablation and pacing therapy in all outcome measures except fractional shortening, which demonstrated a trend toward improvement (P=0.08). Ejection fraction did show significant improvement (P<0.001). The calculated 1-year total and sudden death mortality rates after ablation and pacing therapy were 6.3% and 2.0%, respectively.
Conclusions: Ablation and pacing therapy improves a broad range of clinical outcomes for patients with medically refractory atrial fibrillation. The calculated 1-year mortality rates after this therapy are low and comparable with medical therapy.