Stroke and systemic embolism following atrial fibrillation ablation: the EMBOL-AF Global Registry - PubMed
7 hours ago
- #embolism
- #stroke registry
- #atrial fibrillation ablation
- The EMBOL-AF Global Registry is a retrospective study analyzing stroke and systemic embolism following atrial fibrillation (AF) and left atrial flutter (AFL) catheter ablation.
- Among 335,743 ablation procedures reported by 204 centers, 550 embolic events occurred, giving an overall incidence of 0.16%, with center-level rates ranging from 0% to 3.1%.
- Most events were cerebral (94%), followed by peripheral (5%) and combined (1%), with coronary air embolism accounting for 62% of peripheral events.
- Events occurred intraprocedurally (17%), within 72 hours (78%), beyond 72 hours (22%), and 23% were diagnosed after hospital discharge.
- Risk factors included nonparoxysmal AF (higher incidence), center experience, and ablation energy source, with laserballoon showing the highest event rate (0.88%).
- Median NIHSS score post-stroke was 4, and at 3-month follow-up, 35% of patients had sequelae and 3% died, indicating significant morbidity and mortality.