Outcomes of Atrial Fibrillation Ablation in Morbidly Obese Patients Following Bariatric Surgery Compared With a Nonobese Cohort.

Morbid obesity is associated with unacceptable high recurrence rates following atrial fibrillation ablation. The role of risk-factor modification including weight loss and improved glycemic control in reducing arrhythmia recurrence following ablation has been highlighted in recent years. In this study, we compared arrhythmia recurrence rates in morbidly obese patients who underwent prior bariatric surgery (BS) with those of nonobese patients following atrial fibrillation ablation in addition to morbidly obese patients who did not undergo BS.

This was a single-center observational cohort study. We matched 51 morbidly obese patients [body mass index ≥40 kg/m²] who had undergone prior BS in a 2:1 manner with 102 nonobese patients and 102 morbidly obese patients without prior BS on the basis of age, sex, and timing of atrial fibrillation ablation. Our primary outcome of interest was arrhythmia recurrence.

From the time of BS to ablation, BS was associated with a significant reduction in body mass index (47.6±9.3 to 36.7±7; P<0.0001), glycated hemoglobin (6.7±1.5 to 5.8±0.6; P<0.0001), and systolic blood pressure (145±13 to 118±11; P<0.0001). During a mean follow-up of 29±13 months following ablation, recurrent arrhythmia occurred in 10/51 (20%) patients in the BS group compared with 25/102 (24.5%) patients in the nonobese group and 56 (55%) patients in the non-BS morbidly obese group (P<0.0001). No procedural complications were observed in the BS group.

Bariatric surgery is associated with a reduction in arrhythmia recurrence following atrial fibrillation ablation in morbidly obese patients to those of nonobese patients. Morbidly obese patients should be considered for BS before atrial fibrillation ablation.