Aims Catheter ablation is considered the treatment of choice for many tachyarrhythmias, but convincing ‘real-world’ data on efficacy and safety are lacking. Using Swedish national registry data, the ablation spectrum, procedural characteristics, as well as ablation efficacy and reported adverse events are reported. Methods and Results Consecutive patients (≥18 years of age) undergoing catheter ablation in Sweden between 01 January 2006 and 31 December 2015 were included in the study. Follow-up (repeat ablation and vital status) was collected through 31 December 2016. A total of 26 642 patients (57 ± 15 years, 62% men), undergoing a total of 34 428 ablation procedures were included in the study. In total, 4034 accessory pathway/Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome (12%), 7358 AV-nodal re-entrant tachycardia (21%), 1813 atrial tachycardia (5.2%), 5481 typical atrial flutter (16%), 11 916 atrial fibrillation (AF, 35%), 2415 AV-nodal (7.0%), 581 premature ventricular contraction (PVC, 1.7%), and 964 ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablations (2.8%) were performed. Median follow-up time was 4.7 years (interquartile range 2.7–7.0). The spectrum of treated arrhythmias changed over time, with a gradual increase in AF, VT, and PVC ablation ( P < 0.001). Decreasing procedural times and utilization of fluoroscopy with time, were seen for all arrhythmia types. The rates of repeat ablation differed between ablation types, with the highest repeat ablation seen in AF (41% within 3 years). The rate of reported adverse events was low ( n = 595, 1.7%). Death in the immediate period following ablation was rare ( n = 116, 0.34%). Conclusion Catheter ablations have shifted towards more complex procedures over the past decade. Fluoroscopy time has markedly decreased and the efficacy of catheter ablation seems to improve for AF.

These findings indicate that discontinuation of warfarin treatment after PVI is not safe in high-risk patients, especially those who have previously experienced an ischemic stroke.

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There is a need for markers reflecting the increased risk in patients with conduction disturbances. Conduction disturbances presumably cause inhomogeneous repolarization that may create an arrhythmogenic substrate. In patients with normal conduction, parameters derived from principal components analysis (PCA) of the T wave contain prognostic information. The nondipolar PCA components are assumed to reflect repolarization inhomogeneity. This study examined the PCA parameters in relation to conduction disturbances. PCA was performed on continuously recorded 12-lead ECGs in 800 patients with chest pain and nondiagnostic ECG on admission. The patients with conduction disturbance on admission were classified into separate groups and related to comparison groups without conduction disturbance recruited from the same series. For each patient, the dipolar and nondipolar components were quantified by medians of the ratio of the two largest eigenvalues (S2/S1 Median), the residue that summarizes the eigenvalues S4-S8 (TWRabsMedian) and the ratio of this residue to the total power of the T wave (TWRrelMedian). The parameters were assessed with respect to common clinical and ECG parameters, discharge diagnosis, and total mortality during a 35-month follow-up. TWRabsMedian increased with increasing conduction disturbance. In 135 patients with conduction disturbances, ROC curves for TWRabsMedian as indicator of mortality exhibited areas under a curve of 0.66, 0.65, and 0.56 at 6-month, 24-month, and 35-month follow-up. Conduction disturbances were associated with increased nondipolar PCA component and, thus, with increased repolarization inhomogeneity. The nondipolar PCA component contained a moderate amount of prognostic information not present in a simple ECG diagnosis of a conduction disturbance.