Ghimire, Manoj

Background: Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) have emerged as potential therapy to prevent atrial fibrillation (AF). However, inconsistent results of MRAs effect on perioperative AF have been reported in the literature in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. To our knowledge, this is the first metanalysis to assess the effect of MRAs on occurrence of perioperative AF in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Method: We searched different electronic databases from inception to April 30th, 2023, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies that evaluated the use of MRAs in patients with heart failure and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 30-50% who were referred for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) and/or valve surgery without any AF history. Primary outcome was occurrence of perioperative AF. Three independent reviewers selected and appraised the data. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to estimate pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Result: We included 4 studies, 1 RCT and 3 observational cohorts, with a cumulative number of 1,128 patients with mean age 65.15 years. 412(36.5%) received an MRA (spironolactone or eplerenone). The follow up duration was 5 days to 1 month. During follow-up, 118 (28.64%) patients treated with MRAs, developed AF, compared to 224 (31.28%) patients, without MRA treatment. However, metanalysis showed that there is no significant reduction in occurrence of perioperative AF in MRA treated patients (OR: 0.88 CI: 0.58-1.33 p=0.55), I2 53%; Figure] Conclusion: Experimental data have shown that MRA blockade prevents perioperative AF in animal models but our metanalysis demonstrated that MRAs were not protective for perioperative AF in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Larger trials in humans are warranted to evaluate its efficacy, particularly in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.