Pericarditis following left atrial ablation.

INTRODUCTION

We aimed to evaluate the incidence of acute pericarditis following cardioneuroablation (CNA) and to compare this with patients undergoing left atrial (LA) radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF).

METHODS AND RESULTS

This is a single-center prospective study. During the study period, CNA for vasovagal syncope was performed in 42 patients, pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) for paroxysmal AF in 46 patients, and posterior wall isolation (PWI) in addition to PVI for persistent AF in 22 patients. Pericarditis was reported by 18 (16.4%) patients overall: 1 (2.4%) patient in CNA group, 8 (17.4%) patients in PVI group, and 9 (40.9%) patients in PWI (p < .001). On univariable logistic regression analysis, CNA was associated with a lower risk of pericarditis (odds ratio 0.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.01-0.97), while ablation of PWI plus PVI was associated with a higher risk of pericarditis compared with PVI (odds ratio 3.29, 95% CI 1.05-10.3).

CONCLUSION

This study shows that pericarditis is extremely uncommon following CNA and is significantly less frequent than following AF ablation. This difference is likely related to the much lower amount of LA ablation necessary in this group.