Short‐Term Influence of Radiofrequency Ablation on NT‐proBNP, MR‐proANP, Copeptin, and MR‐proADM in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation: Data From the Observational SMURF Study

Emmanouil Charitakis, Håkan Walfridsson, Urban Alehagen

There is limited knowledge on the short-term influence of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of atrial fibrillation (AF) on 2 cardiac biomarkers; the N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and the midregional fragment of the N-terminal of pro-ANP (MR-proANP) and 2 extracardiac biomarkers; the c-terminal provasopressin (copeptin) and the midregional portion of proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM). There are also limited data concerning cardiac production of the latter two. We studied 192 consecutive patients eligible for RFA of AF referred to the University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden. NT-proBNP, MR-proANP, copeptin, and MR-proADM levels were measured in peripheral blood, the coronary sinus (CS), and the left atrium before ablation, and in peripheral blood immediately and the day after RFA. The level of NT-proBNP decreased the day after RFA in participants in AF at the time of RFA, compared to the participants in sinus rhythm who showed a slight increase (P<0.001). Furthermore, regardless of the actual rhythm, the level of MR-proANP showed an increase immediately after RFA (P<0.001), followed by a decrease the day after ablation (P<0.001). Copeptin level showed a 6-fold increase immediately after RFA compared to baseline (P<0.001), whereas MR-proADM level increased the day after RFA (P<0.001). Levels of copeptin and MR-proADM were not higher in the CS compared to peripheral blood. RFA of AF is a strong stimulus with a significant and direct impact on different neurohormonal systems. We found no sign of a cardiac release of MR-proADM or copeptin. URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique Identifier: NCT01553045.