The influence of radiofrequency ablation on quality of life in patients with ventricular premature beats
Authors: Kravchuk B.B. , Malyarchuk R.G. , Paratsii O.Z. , Yakushev A.V. 
Published: July 2020

Objective – to determine the effect of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on the quality of life (QOL) of patients with ventricular premature beats (VPB).Materials and methods. We included 53 cases of treatment of patients with monomorphic VPB. There were no obvious structural diseases of the heart in them. The age of patients ranged from 16 to 57 years, and the median age was 35.3 ± 12.4. Among patients 37 (69.8 %) were women. All patients underwent RFA aiming to remove the arrhythmogenic substrate of VPB. The indication for intervention was symptomatic VPB, refractory to drug treatment. All patients underwent QOL assessment using the SF-36 questionnaire prior to the procedure at 2, 6, and 12 months after it. QOL was also evaluated in 18 healthy subjects (group of comparison).Results. Assessment of QOL was performed according to 8 criteria (scales): physical activity (PA), vital activity (VA), pain (P), general health (GH), viability (V), social activity (SA), the role of emotional problems in life-limiting (EP), mental health (MH). We noted a significant increase in indicators on the scales that are responsible for the physical component of health for 2 months and continued to increase further to the data of the comparison group: FA (before RFA – 70,24 ± 26,10; in 2 months – 80,32 ± 22.02; in 6 months – 88.58 ± 24.84; in 12 months – 87.38 ± 17.07; GP – 88.32 ± 4.51), RF (before RFA – 47.43 ± 38.95; in 2 months – 70.11 ± 28.83; in 6 months – 71.28 ± 29.51; in 12 months – 69.17 ± 24.12; GP – 70.03 ± 16.34). B (before RFA – 68.84 ± 23.91; in 2 months – 67.12 ± 16.37; in 6 months – 69.83 ± 17.63; in 12 months – 69.03 ± 28.58; GP – 71.83 ± 7.35), PZ (before RFA – 61.88 ± 21.48; in 2 months – 66.05 ± 14.03; in 6 months – 68.59 ± 19.27; in 12 months – 70.23 ± 20.3; GP – 69.04 ± 7.48). Scales responsible for the mental component of health began to respond only after 6 months: HR (before RFA – 56.68 ± 34.46; in 2 months – 62.72 ± 17.54; in 6 months – 61.83 ± 20.15; in 12 months – 63.28 ± 18.08; GP – 61.34 ± 8.03), CA (before RFA – 67.31 ± 28.01; in 2 months – 71.37 ± 16.84; in 6 months – 72.54 ± 24.41; in 12 months – 75.54 ± 17.03; GP – 74.35 ± 8.59). PE (before RFA – 58.41 ± 34.08; 2 months – 66.73 ± 27.63; in 6 months – 67.70 ± 34.05; in 12 months – 68.36 ± 15.03; GP – 69.45 ± 18.07), PZ (before RFA – 59.03 ± 19.81, in 2 months – 64.18 ± 19.58; in 6 months – 61.45 ± 25.21; in 12 months – 61.73 ± 16.7; GP – 59.78 ± 5.01). In the period 2–12 months after surgical treatment, a statistically significant increase in FA and RF compared to the original condition was registered. For the remainder of the QOL components positive changes were recorded that had no statistically significant differences compared to the original condition.Conclusions. The QOL indicators that characterize physical health in patients with VPB prior to interventional treatment are significantly lower than those of virtually healthy individuals. In 2 months after successful RFA of the arrhythmogenic focus in patients with VPB, the QOL parameters significantly improved compared to the comparison group. Complete recovery of physical and mental health occurs between 6 and 12 months after the intervention of arrhythmia.