Factores predictores de recurrencia post ablación de fibrilación auricular

background: success in ablation for atrial fibrillation (af) is affected by different conditions, such as type of af and the presence of structural heart disease. aim: to determine factors associated to recurrence of af after successful ablation therapy. method: patients with af unresponsive to pharmaco-logic treatment were included. pulmonary veins isolation was performed by ablation lines around pulmonary veins at the antral or ostial levels. a 3-d navigation system (carto 3 or onsite navx) was employed. patients underwent clinical and holter monitoring up to 1 year post ablation in order to determine de recurrence of af. age, gender, type of af, duration of af prior to ablation and left atrial size were explored as possible predictors of af recurrence. results: 70 patients were included in the study. recurrence of af occurred in 17 (24.3%), none of them women (n=11, p=0.055). mean age in patients with af recurrence was 59.8 ± 8.6 years compared to 49.2 ± 12.8 in those free of af recurrence (p=0.002). out of 9 patients with persistent af, 2 (22.2%) had recurrence, and 7 (77.7%) did not; this difference was no significant. duration of af prior to ablation was 72.3 ± 68.1 vs 49.61 ± 46.8 months in patients with compared to patients without af recurrence, (p=0.175). left atrial dimension was 41 ± 4.7 mm in patients with af recurrence compared to 38.4 ± 6.1 mm in those without recurrence (p=0.133) conclusion: ablation of af is safe and effective to prevent af recurrence. increasing age predicts a higher rate of recurrence