Optimization of procedural sedation and analgesia during atrial fibrillation ablation.

Purpose Of Review: This mini-review is aimed to provide an overview and discuss procedural sedation and analgesia for atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation with focus at qualification of staff, patient evaluation, monitoring, medication and postprocedural care.

Recent Findings: Sleep-disordered breathing is highly prevalent in patients with AF. Impact of often used STOP-BANG questionnaire to detect sleep-disordered breathing in AF patients is limited due to its restricted validity.

Atrial fibrillation-specific refinement of the STOP-Bang sleep apnoea screening questionnaire: insights from the Virtual-SAFARI study.

Background: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is prevalent in up to 50% of patients referred for atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation (CA). Currently, it remains unclear how to improve pre-selection for SDB screening in patients with AF.

Aim: We aimed to (1) assess the accuracy of the STOP-Bang screening questionnaire for detection of SDB within an AF population referred for CA; (2) derive a refined, AF-specific SDB score to improve pre-selection.

High-flow nasal cannula versus standard low-flow nasal cannula during deep sedation in patients undergoing radiofrequency atrial fibrillation catheter ablation: a single-centre randomised controlled trial.

Background: To our knowledge, there are few trials studying the effect of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) during deep sedation. Our hypothesis is that high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) will prevent hypoxemia and desaturation as compared to low-flow nasal cannula (LFNC) during prolonged deep sedation in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA).

Methods: A single-centre, randomised controlled trial with HFNC as the intervention and LFNC as the control group.