Quality of Life after Radiofrequency Ablation of the Atrioventricular Node in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation of Nonvalvular Genesis: A Comparison of Pacemaker Mode Efficacy

The evaluation of various characteristics of a disease and the effect of its treatment based only on a clinical picture and objective study methods is today considered to be an incomplete process [1-3]. In this context, it is recommended that a quality of life (QoL) evaluation be used as an additional tool for effective patient management [5-7]. In medicine, QoL reflects the level of a patient's satisfaction with those aspects of life which are affected by a disease or its treatment [8]. There are three crucial medical components of QoL used in clinical studies: functionalities, patient's subjective perception of health status, and basic symptoms of the disease [9,10]. In the majority of patients, development of atrial fibrillation (AF) leads to a decrease in QoL [11]. It has been shown that the QoL of patients with AF can be improved with effective antiarrhythmic therapy [12]. On the other hand, radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) of the atrioventricular (AV) node with implantation of a DDDR pacemaker for patients with paroxysmal AF, and VVIR pacing in patients with chronic AF can improve QoL, especially for drug-resistant patients [13-19]. However, contradictory information exists about QoL dynamics in patients who received a VVI pacemaker after RFCA of the AV junction. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pacing on the QoL of patients with AF after RFCA of the AV node.