Postoperative treatment with carvedilol, a beta-adrenergic blocker, prevents paroxysmal atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Background: Arrhythmias following cardiovascular surgery lead to unstable hemodynamics, along with myocardial ischemia and decreased cardiac output. The purpose of the present case cohort study compared the control group with no carvedilol administered and the other group of patients given carvedilol and determined whether postoperative treatment with carvedilol, a beta-adrenergic blocker, prevents paroxysmal atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Methods And Results: Of 160 patients who underwent scheduled isolated CABG, 80 received postoperative carvedilol and 80 did not. Postoperative paroxysmal atrial fibrillation was defined as episodes of atrial fibrillation persisting for over 10 min and confirmed by 12-lead electrocardiography. The incidence of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation was significantly lower in patients given carvedilol (12/80:15%) than in those who were not (27/80:34%) (p=0.0094). Logistic regression analysis showed that only postoperative carvedilol was significantly associated with the development of postoperative atrial fibrillation (95% confidence interval, 0.169-0.832; p=0.0159).

Conclusion: Postoperative treatment with carvedilol prevented paroxysmal atrial fibrillation after CABG.