A recent systematic review and meta-analysis, published in the Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology, has deemed same-day discharge following catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) to be safe and feasible.
According to a recent review, it is common practice to admit patients overnight following catheter ablation of AF, with same-day discharge common for simpler ablations such as supraventricular tachycardia. In light of this, Ali Jafry (University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, USA) et al set out to investigate the clinical benefits of this overnight hospital admission policy following catheter ablation of AF.
Initially, Jafry et al proposed carrying out a systematic review that would compare the safety of same-day discharge, compared to hospital admission for patients following catheter ablation for AF. However, the authors report that no randomised controlled trials met the study inclusion criteria, therefore only observational cohort studies were analysed. In order to be included in the review, the studies had to include a comparison arm including overnight hospital admission or inpatient stay longer than one day, at least one outcome of interest, and had to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.