A Comparison of Two Electrophysiology Centers in Different Social And Economic Regions Of Turkey During First Quarter of the Year

Introduction: More and more patients have been undergoing electrophysiological study (EPS) as the number of rhythmologists have increased. Due to the increased interest in the study, today EPS applications are made even in second step public hospitals or private hospitals. Our aim is to compare two electrophysiology labs, that are in different regions with social and economic development, in terms of patient demography, diagnosis, amount of diagnostic and curative interventions. Materials and Methods: In this study, two centers from two different regions of Turkey were selected; a training and research center (center 1) in the Western part and a public hospital (center 2) in the Eastern part of the country. Records of the patients who undergone EPS in these two centers were retrospectively analyzed. Independent parametric data were evaluated by T-test, and categorical data via Mann-Whitney U test. A p value below 0.05 was accepted for significance. Results: A total of 83 patients were retrospectively analyzed (42 from center 1, 41 from center 2). Patients’ baseline demographic data was similar except intellectual status. Nevertheless, both groups differed based on the number of patients with diagnosis of atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardia (p=0.047). There was a significant difference in procedure types. Center 1 performed significantly higher number of curative procedures (p=0.039) than center 2. Conclusions: Nowadays, EPS is spread from specialized centers to middle-sized hospitals. Since specialized centers have more access to the advanced devices such as electro-anatomic mapping rather than conventional equipment, they are evaluating more complex cases with a variety of different diagnosis. Constructing a referral system from peripheral hospitals to distinguished centers in electrophysiology field would eliminate unnecessary and/or repeated procedures and decrease the expenses.