Laser-assisted endocardiectomy for refractory ventricular tachyarrhythmias: preliminary intraoperative experience

Previous in vitro investigations utilizing necropsy specimens have suggested a potential role for laser irradiation in the treatment of refractory ventricular tachyarrhythmias associated with pathologically thickened endocardium. In the patient described in the present report, findings of these previous in vitro studies were applied intraoperatively to a patient undergoing surgery for ischemic heart disease associated with ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Aneurysm resection and manual subendocardial resection were performed using standard techniques. Laser irradiation was used to ablate pathologically thickened endocardium involving the papillary muscle and thereby avoid mitral valve replacement. Postoperatively, there was no auscultatory evidence of mitral regurgitation, and ventricular tachycardia could not be induced by electrophysiologic provocative testing. This preliminary experience confirms that laser irradiation is both a feasible and potentially advantageous means of accomplishing endocardial debridement in patients undergoing arrhythmia-ablation procedures.