Fascicular ventricular tachycardia: experience with radiofrequency ablation

Fascicular ventricular tachycardia (VT), the commonest form of idiopathic left VT, occurs more frequently in young males without structural heart disease and usually presents as paroxysmal palpitations. It is subdivided into two more common subtypes, posterior and anterior. A macro-reentrant circuit involving a considerable and variable extent of the left interventricular septum is presumed to be the underlying arrhythmogenic mechanism. A slow conduction zone with particular sensitivity to verapamil participates in the circuit and it seems that diastolic potentials (DP) represent the electrical activity in or near this zone. The fascicles of the left bundle appear to constitute part of the retrograde pathway and Purkinje potentials (PP) are assumed to represent their activation. In the present retrospective study, the authors review twelve cases of fascicular VT (ten posterior and two anterior) evaluated in the electrophysiology laboratory. Although initial induction was obtained in all patients, reproducibility was poor as a consequence of frequent contact inhibition during endocardial mapping of the left ventricle and this meant that ablation was not possible in two cases. Two cases of associated atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) and a case of associated atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia by a right posterior accessory pathway were documented, which suggest a correlated anatomic substrate. After ablation of the slow nodal pathway in one of the AVNRTs, fascicular VT was no longer inducible. Ablation of the fascicular VT was attempted in nine patients, at the tachycardia exit site (characterized by an early ventricular electrogram fused with a Purkinje potential) in two patients with anterior fascicular VT and in five patients with the posterior subtype, and near the slow conduction pathway (site with simultaneous recording of DP and PP) in the other two patients. The initial success rate with a single procedure was 78%, two of the ablations at the tachycardia exit site failing, with no complications. If we include the success of a repeated case with three-dimensional mapping, the overall success rate was 80%. Ablation of fascicular tachycardia appears to be a good therapeutic option with a good success rate and without significant adverse events. The poor reproducibility as a consequence of contact inhibition during endocardial left ventricular mapping is the principal limiting factor. With the help of currently available mapping systems, we hope that this limitation will disappear, as it is now possible with some devices to acquire accurate information on suitable sites for subsequent radiofrequency application with little or no contact, facilitating the ablation procedure. Ablation at a site with simultaneous recording of DP and PP is considered by most authors to be more effective than that performed at the tachycardia exit site.