Summary

Safety of emergency-department electric cardioversion for recent-onset atrial fibrillation

Carbajosa-Dalmau J, Martín A, Paredes-Arquiola L, Jacob J, Coll-Vinent B, Llorens P

Affiliation of the authors

Grupo de Arritmias Cardiacas de la Sociedad Española de Urgencias y Emergencias (SEMES), Madrid, Spain. Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital General de Alicante, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIALFundación FISABIO), Alicante, Spain. Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario Severo Ochoa, Universidad Alfonso X, Madrid, Spain. Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIAL-Fundación FISABIO); Alicante, Spain. Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitario de Bellvitge, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. Área de Urgencias, Grup de Recerca Urgències: processos i patologies. IDIBAPS. Unitat de Fibrillació Auricular (UFA), Hospital Clínic. Barcelona, Spain. Grupo de Arritmias Cardiacas de la Sociedad Española de Medicina de Urgencias y Emergencias (SEMES), Madrid, Spain. Unidad de Corta Estancia y Hospitalización a Domicilio, Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital General de Alicante, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de Alicante (ISABIAL-Fundación FISABIO), Departamento de Medicina Clínica, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Alicante, Spain..

DOI

Icono PDF Download Article

Quote

Carbajosa-Dalmau J, Martín A, Paredes-Arquiola L, Jacob J, Coll-Vinent B, Llorens P. Safety of emergency-department electric cardioversion for recent-onset atrial fibrillation. Emergencias. 2019;31:335-40

Summary

Objective.

To analyze the safety of electric cardioversion performed for recent-onset atrial fibrillation in a hospital emergency department.

Methods.

Observational retrospective analysis of consecutive emergency department cases of atrial fibrillation of less than 48 hours’ duration in hemodynamically stable patients. All included cases were either treated with emergency electric cardioversion or referred for evaluation and scheduling of outpatient cardioversion. The outcome variable was

the occurrence of a thromboembolic or hemorrhagic event within 90 days.

Results.

A total of 718 cardioversions in 570 patients were analyzed. The mean (SD) age of the patients was 64 (13.5) years. Four hundred seventy-nine emergency cardioversions (66.7%) and 239 (33.3%) scheduled cardioversions were performed. Eleven adverse events (1.5% of the cohort) occurred: 2 were thromboembolic events (0.3%) and 9 were hemorrhagic (1.3%). All bleeds were minor. There were no statistically significant differences in the rate of

adverse events between the emergency and scheduled cardioversion groups.

Conclusion. Emergency cardioversion for recent-onset atrial fibrillation is safe.

 

More articles by the authors

Carbajosa Dalmau J, Coll-Vinent B, Jacob J, Llorens P, Martín A, Paredes-Arquiola L

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.