Incidence of Supraventricular Arrhythmias during Autologous Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation

Arrhythmias, especially supraventricular arrhythmias, often complicate the clinical course during autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT). We wanted to determine the incidence and risk factors for cardiac arrhythmias during AHCT. The study included 983 patients (median age, 58 years [range, 19 to 77]; 61% male) who underwent AHCT between August 2006 and December 2010 at a single institution and for whom all relevant medical records were available for review. AHCT was done for plasma cell disorders in 58% patients and for lymphoma or leukemia in the remaining. Overall, 92 patients (9.4%) developed a supraventricular tachyarrhythmia at a median of 9 days posttransplantation (range, 0 to 18) and with a median duration of less than 1 day (range, <1 to 17 days). Atrial fibrillation was the most common and seen in 71 patients (7%), followed by atrial flutter and supraventricular tachycardia in 12 (1%) and 8 (1%) patients, respectively. In multivariate analysis, age older than 63 years, presence of premature supraventricular complexes or atrioventricular conduction delay on pretransplantation electrocardiogram, and history of any prior arrhythmia increased the risk of arrhythmia. Development of arrhythmia resulted in longer outpatient follow-up after AHCT, with the median follow-up for those developing an arrhythmia of 22 days compared with 19 days for the rest; P < .001. In conclusion, 9% of patients undergoing ASCT developed supraventricular arrhythmias posttransplantation, and this risk was elevated among older patients, those with a prior history of arrhythmias, and those with pretransplantation electrocardiographic abnormalities.