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.