The mechanism by which caffeine might change cardiac electrophysiologic properties is largely unknown. Most of the prior studies conducted have evaluated the correlation based on the premise of oral consumption. One caveat among such study designs can be underreporting or overreporting the amount of caffeine ingested. To this date, no clinical trials exist that has studied the in vivo effects of caffeine to assess the atrial refractory period and conduction velocity and its potential to cause atrial or ventricular ectopy or sustained arrythmia induction including Atrial Tachycardia(AT)/Atrial Fibrillation(AF)/Ventricular Tachycardia(VT)/Ventricular Fibrillation(VF). As it is hypothesized that decreasing the atrial refractory period can render atria more prone to fibrillation. The pulmonary veins have proven integral to AF pathophysiology, the relationship between pulmonary vein electrophysiology and lifestyle factors in particular has not previously been assessed. It is also not clear if caffeine increases the risk of AF on those patients with known AF diagnosis. To bridge this gap, a randomized controlled trial is proposed to assess the effects of intravenous caffeine on atrial activity during AF ablation procedures.
This How caffeine Induces Atrial Tachyarrhythmias trial will be a multi-center, randomized, double-blinded trial of intravenous caffeine versus placebo among patients undergoing pulmonary vein isolation procedures for Atrial Fibrillation(AF).