Patient perception of symptoms and quality of life following ablation in patients with supraventricular tachycardia

Abstract

Objectives: It remains unclear which symptom experiences and aspects of quality of life (QOL) change after ablation in patients with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). To determine how patient perceptions of symptoms and QOL change after ablation, we used a single group pretest-posttest design.

Methods: Patients with SVT (n=52; mean age 41+/-17 years; 65% female) completed generic and disease-specific measures at baseline and 1 month after ablation.

Results: Significant improvement after ablation was noted on virtually all measures (P <.05). Patients reported decreases from baseline regarding frequency and duration of episodes, number of symptoms, and impact of SVT on routine activities. All symptoms decreased in prevalence; however, no symptoms were completely eliminated at 1-month follow-up. Women, more so than men, reported larger changes in symptom and QOL scores after ablation.

Conclusions: Despite the small sample, statistically significant improvement was found after ablation in a variety of patients with different symptoms and QOL indices.

Figure 1. Flow chart of recruitment for study

SVT: supraventricular tachycardia, EP: electrophysiology. Of the initial exclusions, 281 were for non-SVT primary diagnoses as follows: cardioversions (35); pacemakers (94); implantable cardioverter defibrillator (71); ventricular tachycardia (73); long QT syndrome (8). Of the secondary exclusions, 125 SVT patients were excluded due to: severe co-morbid conditions (7); ineligible arrhythmia diagnoses for study, such as atrial fibrillation (49), atrial flutter (30), inappropriate sinus tachycardia (6); non-inducibility at time of electrophysiology testing or unsuccessful ablation (11); history of earlier ablation (10); age ≤ 12 years (4); or non-English speaking (8).