Propofol Effects on Atrial Fibrillation Wavefront Delays

Since the cardiac activity during atrial fibrillation (AF) may be influenced by autonomic modulations, in this study, a novel method to quantify the effects of the most common anesthetic agent (propofol) in AF ablation procedures is introduced. This study has two main objectives: first, to assess whether the sedation earlier to radio frequency ablation affects the arrhythmia itself, and second, to provide new information that contributes to a better understanding of the influence of the autonomic nervous system on AF. The methodology presented is based on the measurement of synchronization and delay indexes between two atrial activations at adjacent intracavitary electrodes. These parameters aim to estimate whether two activations at different sites may be caused by the same propagating wavefront, or otherwise, are the consequence of independent wavefronts. The results showed that the mentioned indexes have a different behavior at both atria: the right atrium becomes more synchronized with propofol administration, whereas the synchronization index decreases at the left atrium.