Tele-Rehabilitation After Catheter Ablation in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

This is a single‐blind, randomized controlled study involving patients with atrialfibrillation who have undergone catheter ablation. Participants meeting the eligibilitycriteria will be informed about the study and will provide written informed consentbefore participation.Participants will be randomly allocated to either a remotely supervised cardiactelerehabilitation group or a control group. The cardiac telerehabilitation group willreceive standard care plus a 12‐week remotely supervised exercise program consisting ofaerobic, strengthening, and stretching exercises. The program will be performed threedays per week for a total of 36 sessions, with each session lasting approximately 45‐60minutes.Aerobic exercise will initially be performed at moderate intensity, corresponding to40‐60% of heart rate reserve according to the Karvonen method and a perceived exertion of4‐6 on the Modified Borg Scale. Exercise intensity and duration will be progressivelyincreased according to individual tolerance. Strengthening exercises will be performedusing elastic resistance bands, with exercise intensity monitored using the Modified BorgScale.Exercise sessions will be conducted remotely by a physiotherapist using synchronousvideo‐conferencing platforms or applications. Participants will use a Polar H10 chestheart rate sensor and a sports watch during exercise sessions. Exercise data will beuploaded to the PolarBeat platform and monitored remotely by the physiotherapist.The control group will receive standard care and general information regarding thebenefits of exercise and appropriate physical activity recommendations. Participants inthe control group will be encouraged to achieve 150 minutes of moderate physical activityper week but will not receive an individualized exercise training program.Assessments will include functional exercise capacity, muscle strength, handgripstrength, arterial stiffness, heart rate variability, anxiety and depression, atrialfibrillation‐specific quality of life, physical activity, balance and fall risk,cognitive function, and atrial fibrillation recurrence. Adherence to thetelerehabilitation program will also be recorded.