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Background: Patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT) frequently present in unstable VT and are subject to urgent/high-risk ablation procedures. Clinical predictors of prolonged hospitalization and mortality are needed for optimal management of these patients., Objectives: This study seeks to identify factors associated with prolonged hospitalization and mortality in emergent unplanned VT ablation procedures., Methods: Fifty consecutive patients hospitalized emergently for VT with structural heart disease who underwent catheter ablation were prospectively followed up for outcomes and complications., Results: Of the 50 patients (mean age 67.6 ± 12.8 years), 86.0% were male, 62.0% had ischemic cardiomyopathy, and their median left ventricular ejection fraction was 28.5%. Hospital stay <7 days (median 3 days) occurred in 28 (56.0%) patients (Group 1) and >7 days (median 10 days) or death <7 days occurred in 22 (44.0%) patients (Group 2). PAINESD score and left ventricular ejection fraction were similar between the groups. Compared with Group 1, Group 2 had significantly worse NYHA functional class III or higher (25.0% vs 63.6%; P = 0.006), electrical storm (46.4% vs 77.3%; P = 0.027), and prior failed VT ablation (35.7% vs 68.2%; P = 0.023). Multivariable analysis showed that NYHA functional class III or higher and prior failed VT ablation were predictive of prolonged hospital stay. After ablation, compared with Group 1, Group 2 had worse heart failure (10.7% vs 54.5%; P = 0.001), VT recurrences (3.6% vs 68.2%; P < 0.001), and 7 deaths within 30 days., Conclusions: Patients undergoing emergent VT ablation are at high risk for prolonged hospital stay, which is predicted by NYHA functional class III or higher and a prior failed ablation. Early VT recurrences and worsening heart failure contribute to prolonged hospitalization and a high 30-day mortality., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Dr Uetake has received support from the Mitsukoshi Health and Welfare Foundation and Fukuda Foundation for medical technology. Dr Tandri has received research support from Abbott. Dr Hasegawa has received support from the International Rotary Fellowship of Healthcare Professionals (Global Grant GG2099197 Scholarship). Dr Kurata has received a scholarship from the Japanese Heart Rhythm Society. Dr Richardson has received speaking honoraria from Medtronic and research funding from Medtronic and Abbott; and has served as a consultant for Philips and Biosense Webster. Dr Kanagasundram has received speaking honoraria from Johnson & Johnson. Dr Stevenson has received speaking honoraria from Abbott, Boston Scientific, Biotronik, Biosense Webster, and Medtronic. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Ablation is a widely used therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF); however, arrhythmia recurrence and repeat procedures are common. Studies examining surrogate markers of genetic susceptibility to AF, such as family history and individual AF susceptibility alleles, suggest these may be associated with recurrence outcomes. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to test the association between AF genetic susceptibility and recurrence after ablation using a comprehensive polygenic risk score for AF., Methods: Ten centers from the AF Genetics Consortium identified patients who had undergone de novo AF ablation. AF genetic susceptibility was measured using a previously described polygenic risk score (N=929 single-nucleotide polymorphisms) and tested for an association with clinical characteristics and time-to-recurrence with a 3 month blanking period. Recurrence was defined as >30 seconds of AF, atrial flutter, or atrial tachycardia. Multivariable analysis adjusted for age, sex, height, body mass index, persistent AF, hypertension, coronary disease, left atrial size, left ventricular ejection fraction, and year of ablation., Results: Four thousand two hundred seventy-six patients were eligible for analysis of baseline characteristics and 3259 for recurrence outcomes. The overall arrhythmia recurrence rate between 3 and 12 months was 44% (1443/3259). Patients with higher AF genetic susceptibility were younger ( P <0.001) and had fewer clinical risk factors for AF ( P =0.001). Persistent AF (hazard ratio [HR], 1.39 [95% CI, 1.22-1.58]; P <0.001), left atrial size (per cm: HR, 1.32 [95% CI, 1.19-1.46]; P <0.001), and left ventricular ejection fraction (per 10%: HR, 0.88 [95% CI, 0.80-0.97]; P =0.008) were associated with increased risk of recurrence. In univariate analysis, higher AF genetic susceptibility trended towards a higher risk of recurrence (HR, 1.08 [95% CI, 0.99-1.18]; P =0.07), which became less significant in multivariable analysis (HR, 1.06 [95% CI, 0.98-1.15]; P =0.13)., Conclusions: Higher AF genetic susceptibility was associated with younger age and fewer clinical risk factors but not recurrence. Arrhythmia recurrence after AF ablation may represent a genetically different phenotype compared to AF susceptibility.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a mechanistically heterogeneous disorder, and the ability to identify sub-phenotypes ("endophenotypes") of AF would assist in the delivery of personalized medicine. We used the clinical response to pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) to identify a sub-group of patients with non-PV mediated AF and sought to define the clinical associations., Methods: Subjects enrolled in the Vanderbilt AF Ablation Registry who underwent a repeat AF ablation due to arrhythmia recurrence were analyzed on the basis of PV reconnection. Subjects who had no PV reconnection were defined as "non-PV mediated AF". A comparison group of subjects were identified who had AF that was treated with PVI-only and experienced no arrhythmia recurrence >12 months. They were considered a group enriched for "PV-mediated AF". Univariate and multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate clinical associations between the PV and non-PV mediated AF groups., Results: Two hundred and twenty nine subjects underwent repeat AF ablation and thirty three (14%) had no PV reconnection. They were compared with 91 subjects identified as having PV-mediated AF. Subjects with non-PV mediated AF were older (64 years [IQR 60,71] vs. 60 [52,67], P = 0.01), more likely to have non-paroxysmal AF (82% [N = 27] vs. 35% [N = 32], P<0.001), and had a larger left atrium (LA) (4.2cm [3.6,4.8] vs. 4.0 [3.3,4.4], P = 0.04). In univariate analysis, age (per decade: OR 1.56 [95% CI: 1.04 to 2.33], P = 0.03), LA size (per cm: OR 1.8 [1.06 to 3.21], P = 0.03) and non-paroxysmal AF (OR 8.3 [3.10 to 22.19], P<0.001) were all significantly associated with non-PV mediated AF. However, in multivariable analysis only non-paroxysmal AF was independently associated with non-PV mediated AF (OR 7.47 [95% CI 2.62 to 21.29], P<0.001), when adjusted for age (per decade: OR 1.25 [0.81 to 1.94], P = 0.31), male gender (OR 0.48 [0.18 to 1.28], P = 0.14), and LA size (per 1cm: 1.24 [0.65 to 2.33], P = 0.52)., Conclusions: Non-paroxysmal AF was the only clinical variable found to be independently associated with non-PV mediated AF. We demonstrated that analysis of AF ablation outcomes data can serve as a tool to successfully identify a sub-phenotype of subjects who have non-PV mediated AF., Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID # NCT02404415.

Background: Common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at chromosomes 4q25 (rs2200733, rs10033464 near PITX2), 1q21 (rs13376333 in KCNN3), and 16q22 (rs7193343 in ZFHX3) have consistently been associated with the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). Single-center studies have shown that 4q25 risk alleles predict recurrence of AF after catheter ablation of AF. Here, we performed a meta-analysis to test the hypothesis that these 4 AF susceptibility SNPs modulate response to AF ablation., Methods and Results: Patients underwent de novo AF ablation between 2008 and 2012 at Vanderbilt University, the Heart Center Leipzig, and Massachusetts General Hospital. The primary outcome was 12-month recurrence, defined as an episode of AF, atrial flutter, or atrial tachycardia lasting >30 seconds after a 3-month blanking period. Multivariable analysis of the individual cohorts using a Cox proportional hazards model was performed. Summary statistics from the 3 centers were analyzed using fixed effects meta-analysis. A total of 991 patients were included (Vanderbilt University, 245; Heart Center Leipzig, 659; and Massachusetts General Hospital, 87). The overall single procedure 12-month recurrence rate was 42%. The overall risk allele frequency for these SNPs ranged from 12% to 35%. Using a dominant genetic model, the 4q25 SNP, rs2200733, predicted a 1.4-fold increased risk of recurrence (adjusted hazard ratio,1.3 [95% confidence intervals, 1.1-1.6]; P=0.011). The remaining SNPs, rs10033464 (4q25), rs13376333 (1q21), and rs7193343 (16q22) were not significantly associated with recurrence., Conclusions: Among the 3 genetic loci most strongly associated with AF, the chromosome 4q25 SNP rs2200733 is significantly associated with recurrence of atrial arrhythmias after catheter ablation for AF., (© 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.)