RESEARCH ARTICLE r e

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common cardiac arrhythmia characterised by an irregular and fast heartbeat. Its prevalence increases with age, and up to 15 % of over-eighty-year-olds have been diagnosed with AF [1]. AF may cause symptoms of palpitations, shortness of breath and fatigue. It can also lead to heart failure and stroke. Treatment is primarily aimed at restoring and maintaining sinus rhythm and preventing stroke. Rhythm control can be achieved by means of electric cardioversion or by using antiarrhyth-mic drugs (AAD) such as flecainide, propafenone or amiodarone. The risk of stroke can be considerably reduced by anticoagulants. Unfortunately, in many pa-tients antiarrhythmic drugs are not effective or poorly * Correspondence: mattias.neyt@kce.fgov.beMattias Neyt*, Hans Van Brabandt and Carl Devos Background: A health technology assessment (HTA) of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (CA-AF) was commissioned by the Belgian government and performed by the Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE). In this context, a systematic review of the economic literature was performed to assess the procedure’s value for money. Methods: A systematic search for economic literature about the cost-effectiveness of CA-AF was performed by consulting various databases: CRD (Centre for Reviews and Dissemination) HTA and CDSR (Cochrane Database o