Assessment of the Relationship Between Waist Circumference as an Anthropometrical Indicator of Central Obesity and Fluoroscopic Exposure Time in Different Gender Patients Who Underwent Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation Due to Antiarrhythmic Drug-Refractory Tachycardia: a Multicenter Study

Abstract

Introduction: Radiofrequency catheter ablation therapy has been used to treat arrhythmia such as supraventricular and/or ventricular tachycardia. Increased waist circumference is important in assessing central obesity and may be an important factor for radiation injury. Therefore, this article describes the association between waist circumference and fluoroscopic exposure time during cardiac radiofrequency catheter ablation procedures for symptomatic drug-resistant tachycardia. Patients and Methods: From August 2011 to March 2015, 214 (136 women, 78 men) consecutive patients with symptomatic drug-resistant atrioventricular nodal re-entrant tachycardia (174 patients), atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia (12 patients), Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome (5 patients), atrial tachycardia (8 patients), atrial flutter (7 patients), right ventricular outflow tract tachycardia (5 patients), and atrial fibrillation (3 patients) underwent an invasive electrophysiological study and radiofrequency catheter ablation. The fluoroscopic exposure time, radiofrequency catheter ablation time, and waist circumference were measured during the electrophysiological study. Results: Although age was significantly higher in women than in men, body weight, body height, waist circumference, and radiofrequency catheter ablation time were significantly higher in men than in women. There was a correlation between waist circumference and fluoroscopic exposure time (p= 0.04, r= 0.13). Conclusion: The study showed that there was a positive correlation between waist circumference and fluoroscopic exposure time in patients with antiarrhythmic drug-refractory tachycardia who underwent radiofrequency catheter ablation. This finding could help prevent radiation injury, especially increased waist circumference during radiofrequency catheter ablation.