Protocolized nurse-guided intravenous conscious sedation for cryoballoon ablation of paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation
Authors: Iglesias J A , Benezet Mazuecos J , Crespo B , Esteban I , Lozano A , Crosa J , Miracle A , Jauregui M 
Published: October 2022

Background

Nursing staff is playing an increasingly important role in arrhythmia units and it entails acquiring more specialized knowledge. Intravenous conscious sedation is being administered more frequently in a wide variety of cardiac procedures including cryoballoon ablation (CBA). Nurses and physicians have distinct yet collaborative roles in the management and care of the patient receiving conscious sedation. It is imperative that the nurse be aware of her/his role in caring for the patient before, during, and after the administration of intravenous conscious sedation.

Purpose

We aimed to evaluate the nurse's role, working in coordination with the medical staff, in intravenous conscious sedation for CBA following a standardized protocol ensuring proper handling and administration of the different drugs, monitorization of vital signs and management of drug infusion in order to avoid pain but also complications inherent to the procedure and sedation.

Method

We included consecutive patients with paroxysmal or persistent AF who underwent a CBA from 2017 to 2021. We evaluated a nurse-guided sedation, under medical surveillance, in CBA procedures using propofol. The dosage was based on the patient's weight, starting sedation with a bolus of 1 ml (1% solution) for every 20 kg of weight, and starting a perfusion at 10 ml/h (2% solution), monitoring constantly patient's vital signs, especially blood pressure and O2saturation. This infusion was adjusted according to the patient's response. During the procedure, on a stable hemodynamic situation, booster bolus of 1 ml (1% solution) could be administered approximately every 15 minutes when needed for sedation. When systolic blood pressure was under 100 mmHg, a solution of midazolam (1mg/ml) and fentanyl (0.05mg/ml) in a mixture of 1cc + 1cc was preferred as booster. Saline and colloid solutions andephedrine (30mg/ml) bolus could be used when severe hypotension to revert propofol's hypotensive effect. Systematic standardized CBA was performed and intraprocedural and periprocedural complications were recorded.

Results

104 patients were included (mean age 58±8 year-old, 85% male). Of these patients, 76 (73%) had recurrent paroxysmal AF, failure of antiarrhythmic drugs was present in 96% and prior radiofrequency ablation in 4%, 61 (59%) showed left atria enlargement (&gt;40 mm or area &gt;20 cm2), and 11 (10%) had structural heart disease. Mean CHA2DS2VASc score was 1. Baseline characteristics in Table 1. Procedural-related complications occurred in 6 patients (5%), transient phrenic nerve palsy in 2 patients and vascular damage in 4. All sedations were performed without complications.

Conclusions

In our experience, protocolized nurse-guided intravenous conscious sedation under medical surveillance in CBA procedures is safe and really useful. It contributes to help medical operators to focus on the procedure sharing the patient's sedation management with trained nurses.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: None.