Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmic complication after cardiac surgery. Several studies have compared the efficacy of landiolol and placebo or other agents in preventing new-onset AF in patients after cardiac surgery. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis to determine whether landiolol is effective in preventing new-onset AF after cardiac surgery.
Methods and results: Five randomized controlled trials and two retrospective analyses were included in this study. The clinical outcomes of interest were the occurrence of AF after cardiac surgery and major complications. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.0.18 software, and pooled estimates of the effect were reported as risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The results of this meta-analysis indicate that landiolol is significantly associated with a decreased risk of occurrence of AF after cardiac surgery (RR = 0.33; 95% CI: 0.23-0.48; P < 0.00001) and is not associated with an increased risk of major complications (RR = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.43-1.45; P = 0.45) compared with the control group.
Conclusion: Landiolol administration in the perioperative period can reduce the occurrence of AF after cardiac surgery without increasing the risk of major complications. It can be used to prevent new-onset AF safely after cardiac surgery.
Keywords: atrial fibrillation; cardiac surgery; landiolol hydrochloride; β1-selective blocker.
©2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.