Differences in outcomes among patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing catheter ablation with versus without intracardiac echocardiography

BACKGROUND: Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) use can lead to early detection of periprocedural complications and may improve patient outcomes by providing real‐time visualization of catheter location and the treatment area during cardiac ablation (CA) for atrial fibrillation (AF). OBJECTIVE: Examine complications and 12‐month healthcare use among patients with AF undergoing CA with versus without ICE use during the procedure in a real‐world setting. METHODS: The 2015–2020 IBM MarketScan® Database was used to identify non‐elderly adults (age 18–64 years) undergoing CA for AF. Patients were classified into ICE/non‐ICE groups based on the presence or absence of ICE procedure codes. Patients in each group were matched on study covariates using propensity scores. Peri‐procedural complications, 12‐month cardiovascular (CV) or AF‐related inpatient admission, repeat CA, and cardioversion were compared using a Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: 1371 patients were identified in each study cohort (ICE and non‐ICE) after propensity matching. Patients who had CA with ICE had a significantly lower rate of complications than those without (2.9% vs. 5.8%; p < .001). The risk of complications was 50% lower with ICE use (hazard ratio [HR] 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.34–0.72). For assessment of 12‐month healthcare utilization, 1250 patients were identified in each cohort after propensity matching. ICE use was associated with a 36% lower risk of 12‐month repeat ablation (HR 0.64; 95% CI 0.49–0.83). No differences in CV‐ or AF‐related inpatient admission and cardioversion were observed. CONCLUSION: Among patients with AF, the use of ICE during an ablation procedure was associated with lower incidence of complications and repeat ablation.