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Influence of cardioversion on asymptomatic cerebral lesions following atrial fibrillation ablation

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Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Asymptomatic cerebral lesions detected by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) following atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation were reported in recent years. It was reported that cardioversion during the procedure of AF ablation was one independent risk factor of asymptomatic cerebral lesions. However, in some studies, the similar association between asymptomatic cerebral lesions and intraprocedural cardioversion was not observed. Given the inconsistent results, we did a meta-analysis to explore the influence of intraprocedural cardioversion on the asymptomatic cerebral lesions detected by MRI following AF ablation.

Methods

Studies exploring the association between cardioversion during AF ablation and asymptomatic cerebral lesions following AF ablation were systematically searched in PubMed, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library Databases. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed to explore the source of heterogeneity.

Results

Nine studies involving 813 participants were included in the present meta-analysis. When we pooled data from nine studies using fixed-effects model, we found cardioversion during the procedure significantly increased the risk of asymptomatic cerebral lesions detected by MRI following AF ablation (pooled OR = 1.793, 95 % CI 1.201–2.678, I 2 = 38.8 %, P heterogeneity = 0.109).

Conclusions

Cardioversion during AF ablation significantly increased the risk of asymptomatic cerebral lesions on MRI following the procedure. Additional studies are required to further verify the association.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Viral Heart Diseases, Ministry of Public Health, Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Guijian Liu, Ruizhen Chen & Junbo Ge

  2. Department of Cardiology, Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Guijian Liu, Ruizhen Chen, Wenqing Zhu, Kuan Cheng, Ye Xu, Qingxing Chen & Junbo Ge

  3. Number 180, Fenglin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Ruizhen Chen

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  1. Guijian Liu
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  2. Ruizhen Chen
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  4. Kuan Cheng
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  5. Ye Xu
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  6. Qingxing Chen
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Correspondence to Ruizhen Chen or Wenqing Zhu.

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Liu, G., Chen, R., Zhu, W. et al. Influence of cardioversion on asymptomatic cerebral lesions following atrial fibrillation ablation. J Interv Card Electrophysiol 40, 129–136 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-014-9904-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-014-9904-0

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