National Registry of Catheter Ablation 2010

pp. 198-204

Abstract

Background. Catheter ablation of arrhythmogenic substrates and circuits is a common procedure in current medical practice. The National Registry of Catheter Ablation 2010 was carried out in cardiac electrophysiology centers from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and Argentine provinces, coordinated by members of the Arrhythmia Committees of the Argentine Society of Cardiology and the Argentine Federation of Cardiology. Its participation was free and anonymous.

Objective. To know the number of catheter ablation procedures, treated arrhythmogenic substrates, outcomes and complications, using the information provided by participants during the study period.

Methods. A retrospective registry of the procedures was carried out from January 1 to December 31, 2010, with the participation of 24 centers. A database was developed, and once completed by participants, it was unified into a single central database. Patients and centers were assigned number codes to ensure data anonymity.

Results. Twenty-four centers reported 1500 ablation procedures in 1460 patients. All patients were treated with radiofrequency.
The most common substrates approached were atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (25%) and accessory bundles (25%), atrial flutter (18%) and atrial fibrillation (16%). Overall success rate at the end of the procedures was 93.8%, and complications were present in 2.2% of the procedures. The most common complications were those related to vascular access (0.7%). A single death was recorded, due to pulmonary thromboembolism.

Conclusions. This third Argentine registry on catheter ablation provides important and useful information, and shows an adequate immediate success rate, similar to those reported by previous national registries, with low incidence of morbidity and
mortality rates. Therefore, in Argentina, this medical practice maintains similar efficacy and safety levels compared to other publications.