Headache during cryoballoon ablation for atrial Fibrillation
Pison, L; Peeters, P; Blaauw, Yet al.
2015 • In Europace: European Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Electrophysiology: Journal of the Working Groups on Cardiac Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology, 17 (6), p. 898-901
[en] Objective
Headache has been reported to occur during cryoballoon ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF).
No study has systematically analyzed this phenomenon.
Methods
Twenty consecutive patients with symptomatic AF, underwent cryoballoon ablation without
sedation. Headache was evaluated before, during and after the first cryoapplication in every
pulmonary vein (PV) using a visual representation of a head for location of the headache, a
numerical rating scale (NRS) for measuring pain intensity and the short-form McGill pain
questionnaire (MPQ) for qualitative analysis of pain. The order in which the PVs were
ablated, was randomized.
Results
Sixteen (80%) patients perceived mainly frontal headache during cryoablation. The overall
NRS scores were significantly higher during (5.1±1.7), compared to before (2.7±1.4), and
after (3.5±2.2) a cryoapplication (p<0.05). The NRS score was significantly higher during
ablation of the first PV. The intensity of the perceived headache was not related to the
temperature reached 150 s after initiation of a cryoapplication (p = 0,81). Of the MPQ, 3
sensory adjectives and 1 affective adjective averaged between score 1 and 2, representing
mild to moderate severity of pain.
Conclusions
The majority of patients treated by balloon cryoablation, experienced headache during a cryoapplication.
There was no correlation between the temperature reached during a cryoballoon
freeze and the intensity of the headache. Cryoballoon ablation of the first PV, was
significantly more painfull than the remaining PV
Disciplines :
Neurology
Author, co-author :
Pison, L; Université de Maastricht > Cardiologie
Peeters, P; Université de Maastricht > Cardiologie
Blaauw, Y
Vernooy, K
Kumar, N
Philippens, S
Crijns, HJ
Vlayen, Jean
SCHOENEN, Jean ; Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège - CHU > Neurologie CHR
Timmermans, Carl C.M.M.
Language :
English
Title :
Headache during cryoballoon ablation for atrial Fibrillation
Publication date :
2015
Journal title :
Europace: European Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Electrophysiology: Journal of the Working Groups on Cardiac Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology
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