Effect of Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation on Quality of Life in Patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

Abstract

Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome is one of several disorders of the conduction system of the heart that are commonly referred to as pre-excitation syndromes. As the syndrome significantly reduces the patients’ quality of life (QoL), the purpose of the current study was to compare QoL scores in patients with WPW syndrome before and after a radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFA) procedure. To assess the patients’ QoL, the MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey was used. Immediate and long-term outcomes of radiofrequency catheter ablation were analyzed in 60 patients diagnosed with WPW syndrome, 41(68.3%) men and 19(31.7%) women. As compared with the controls (28 apparently healthy persons), patients with WPW syndrome before RFA experienced significant reduction in both physical and mental health components. RFA was found effective in 93.3% of patients with WPW syndrome. At 3 months after RFA, patients showed significant improvement in both physical (13.5%) and mental (17.2%) health components; at 12 months, QoL parameters reached those of the controls.

Keywords

• Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome;
• radiofrequency catheter ablation;
• quality of life;
• 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey.