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Catheter Ablation in Combination With Left Atrial Appendage Closure for Atrial Fibrillation
28:13

Catheter Ablation in Combination With Left Atrial Appendage Closure for Atrial Fibrillation

Published on: February 26, 2013

Catheter ablation of electrical storm in patients with structural heart disease

Marketa Kozeluhova1, Petr Peichl, Robert Cihak

  • 1Department of Cardiology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Videnska 1958/9, Prague 4 140 21, Czech Republic. mrkz@ikem.cz

Europace : European Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Electrophysiology : Journal of the Working Groups on Cardiac Pacing, Arrhythmias, and Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology
|October 16, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Catheter ablation effectively suppresses electrical storm (ES) acutely, offering life-saving benefits. Long-term, it prevents ventricular tachycardia recurrences in about half of patients with ES.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Electrophysiology
  • Medical Devices

Background:

  • Electrical storm (ES) significantly worsens patient prognosis and can be life-threatening.
  • Catheter ablation (CA) is a proposed treatment for ES, aiming to suppress ventricular arrhythmias.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the efficacy of catheter ablation (CA) for acute and long-term suppression of electrical storm (ES).

Main Methods:

  • Fifty patients with ES underwent catheter ablation (CA) using electroanatomical mapping.
  • CA aimed to abolish all inducible ventricular arrhythmias.
  • Patient outcomes were assessed during an 18-month follow-up.

Main Results:

  • Catheter ablation (CA) acutely suppressed ES in 84% of patients.
  • During follow-up, 48% of patients remained free of ventricular tachycardia (VT) recurrence.
  • Recurrent ES despite CA was linked to increased mortality or need for heart transplantation.

Conclusions:

  • Catheter ablation (CA) is an effective and often life-saving therapy for acute electrical storm (ES) suppression.
  • Long-term, CA prevents VT recurrence in approximately 50% of treated patients.
Abstract

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