ESC 2023 — Dr David Conen (McMaster University, CA) joins us onsite for a short interview focussing on the findings from the COP-AF trial (NCT03310125).

COP-AF aimed to assess if oral colchicine reduced the incidence of perioperative atrial fibrillation and myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery in patients undergoing major thoracic surgery. 3209 participants were enrolled in the trial, who were randomized to receive either 0.5 mg of colchicine orally twice daily for ten days, or a placebo comparator.

Results suggest that colchicine does not significantly reduce perioperative atrial fibrillation or myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery in major thoracic surgery, though some encouraging signals of benefit for the reduction of adverse cardiovascular outcomes in this patient group were also found.

Questions:

1. What was the rationale behind this trial?
2. What is the mechanism of action behind colchicine in patients with AF?
3. What was the patient population and study design?
4. What were the key findings?
5. What are the take-home messages?
6. What further study is still required?

Recorded on-site at ESC Congress 2023, Amsterdam. 

Editors: Mirjam Boros and Jordan Rance
Video Specialists: Dan Brent, Tom Green, Mike Knight, Oliver Miles