Screening for Sleep Apnea in Patients Undergoing Atrial Fibrillation Ablation
Screening for Sleep Apnea in Patients Undergoing Atrial Fibrillation Ablation
Diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)
 therapy has been shown to decrease arrhythmia recurrence in patients with AF following
 ablation. However, patients with AF undergoing ablation are not routinely screened for sleep
 apnea, despite an estimated sleep apnea prevalence of 25% in the general population, and
 perhaps higher among patients with AF. Home sleep testing is frequently used for evaluation
 of sleep apnea.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine considers atrial fibrillation (AF) to be high risk for
 sleep disordered breathing, and recommends that those with AF be evaluated for sleep apnea in
 its clinical guidelines. However, this has not yet become standard practice. The primary
 reasons for this are that sleep apnea remains under-suspected and under-diagnosed by
 electrophysiology physicians treating patients with AF, overnight sleep studies are
 cumbersome and are frequently associated with patient discomfort and high cost, and a
 mechanism for coordinating sleep apnea screening and treatment referral has not been
 established in electrophysiology clinics.

 The gold standard for the diagnosis of sleep apnea is overnight polysomnography, typically
 conducted in a sleep laboratory, which can be costly and cumbersome for patients. Home sleep
 studies are FDA-approved for the diagnosis of sleep apnea and offer patients the opportunity
 to be assessed in a more natural sleep environment, and often in a more timely manner.

 It has been demonstrated that diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea reduces the risk of
 arrhythmia recurrence following AF ablation to a level comparable to those without sleep
 apnea. The goal of this study is to examine the feasibility of screening all patients
 undergoing AF ablation for sleep apnea, and to refer those patients with sleep apnea for
 evaluation and treatment by a sleep specialist.
Inclusion criteria for the study include:

 1. Patients age 18 years and older.

 2. Patients with the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation presenting for clinical ablation
 procedure.

 Exclusion criteria for the study include:

 1. Patients with an existing diagnosis of sleep apnea.

 2. Patients who are unable to provide informed consent.