ABSTRACT

Objectives:

This study was designed to evaluate the effects of prophylactic amiodarone infusion on the outcomes of intraoperative radiofrequency ablation.

Design:

Eighty patients who were scheduled for intraoperative radiofrequency ablation were enrolled in this study and randomized into two groups: first group received 30mg/h amiodarone 24 hours before the operation, and the second group received placebo. Heart rates and cardiac rhythms in addition to clinical outcomes were measured during hospitalization and at the end of the 1st month.

Results:

The demographic and cardiac data were similar in both groups. Although the heart rates at the time of admission were similar between groups (102,07±16,04 for amiodarone group and 99,17±17,23 for control group, p=0,477), they were significantly lower in the amiodarone group at the time of anesthesia induction (83,17±11,77, p<0,001) and discharge (79,83±10,08, p=0,012). All the patients in both groups were in AF at the time of admission and anesthesia induction. Following RFA 31 (77,5%) of the patients in the amiodarone group and 29 (72,5%) of the patients in the control group were in NSR, and the difference was insignificant (p=0,770). At the end of the first month the mean heart rates (83,91±9,11 for amiodarone group and 86,41±9,31 for control group, p=0,671) and the number of patients in NSR (29 patients in amiodarone group and 28 patients in control group, p=1) were similar between groups.

Conclusion:

Preoperative use of amiodarone makes a significant decrease in heart rate before and after the operation but doesn’t change the success rate of radiofrequency ablation.