Atrial fibrillation ablation – the value of AF burden monitoring in the long-term follow-up

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia, increasing the risk of stroke and all-cause mortality, predominantly due to cardiovascular diseases. Catheter ablation (CA) is recommended therapy, with far better long-term outcome compared to antiarrhythmic medication, and prolonged cardiac monitoring is crucial in the post-ablation follow-up. Due to technology advancements, we can introduce not only more effective methods for invasive AF treatment, but also the valuation of its long-term outcome. Implantable cardiac monitors (ICMs) provide continuous ECG recording, required to assess the exact time of AF duration. AF burden, defined as the proportion of time an individual is in AF during the monitoring period is an excellent quantitative indicator for more complex evaluation of the AF ablation outcome, presenting it not merely as the binary effect.