Impact of a dedicated atrial fibrillation clinic on diagnosis-to-ablation time

BACKGROUND: Outcomes following catheter ablation (CA) for atrial fibrillation (AF) improve as the diagnosis-to-ablation time (DAT) shortens. Use of a protocol-based integrated care model through a dedicated atrial fibrillation clinic (AFC) may serve to standardize treatment pathways and decrease DAT. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the DAT and clinical characteristics of patients with AF referred from an AFC vs a conventional electrophysiology clinic (EC). METHODS: Retrospective analysis was completed in consecutive patients undergoing index AF ablation at Riverside Methodist Hospital in 2019 with minimum 1 year follow-up. Patients were categorized based off their CA referral source (AFC vs EC) and where the initial visit following index diagnosis of AF occurred (AFC vs EC). RESULTS: A total of 182 patients (mean age 65 years, 64% male) were reviewed. Patients referred from an AFC (21%) had a median DAT of 342 days (interquartile range [IQR], 125–855 days) compared to patients referred from EC (79%) with a median DAT of 813 days (IQR, 241–1444 days; P = .01). Patients with their index visit following AF diagnosis occurring in the AFC (9%) had significantly shorter median DAT (127 days [IQR, 95–188 days]) compared to EC (91%) (789 days [IQR, 253–1503 days]; P = .002). Patients with DAT <1 year had lower AF recurrence than patients with DAT >1 year (P = .04, hazard ratio = 0.58, 95% confidence interval 0.3418–1.000). CONCLUSION: DAT is a modifiable factor that may affect CA outcomes. Significant reductions in DAT were observed in patients evaluated through a dedicated AF clinic.