Introduction
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia with a
prevalence of approximately 2% to 4% in adults1.
Mitral valve diseases are strongly associated with the development of
AF, which occurs in 30% – 40% of the patients with rheumatic mitral
valve disease2-4. During long-term follow-up, about
41% – 47% of patients with mitral valve disease had
AF5. Mitral valve diseases may contribute to the
occurrence of AF by inducing volume overload and left atrial (LA)
enlargement6. However, the high prevalence of
persistent AF in these patients remained even after hemodynamic
abnormity was corrected by mitral valve surgery in previous
study7.
Catheter ablation is an effective treatment for AF. It was shown that
catheter ablation of AF was safe and effective in patients with
mechanical mitral valve replacement (MVR)8. However,
the study about the safety and efficacy of catheter ablation of AF in
patients with bioprosthetic MVR was limited. This study aims to
investigate whether there is a difference in the safety and efficacy of
catheter ablation of AF in patients with mechanical MVR versus
bioprosthetic MVR.