Ablation Therapy for Refractory Ventricular Arrhythmias
Pasquale Santangeli1, Francis E Marchlinski1
1Cardiac Electrophysiology Section, Cardiovascular Division, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA; email: pasquale.santangeli@uphs.upenn.edu, francis.marchlinski@uphs.upenn.edu.
Annual Review of Medicine
|November 21, 2019
Summary
Catheter ablation offers a potential cure for recurrent ventricular arrhythmias (VAs), a major cause of heart disease mortality. This treatment is life-saving for select patients with frequent VAs or heart failure.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Electrophysiology
Background:
- Recurrent ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) significantly contribute to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
- VAs can occur in healthy hearts or those with underlying structural disease, posing a higher risk in the latter.
- Significant progress has been made in understanding VA mechanisms, prognosis, and treatment over the past three decades.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the clinical aspects of catheter ablation for recurrent VAs.
- To discuss patient selection and clinical management strategies for catheter ablation procedures.
- To outline the expected outcomes following catheter ablation for VAs.
Main Methods:
- Focus on clinical management and patient selection for catheter ablation.
- Correlating underlying structural heart abnormalities with VA origin.
- Identifying optimal ablation targets and procedural approaches.
Main Results:
- Catheter ablation provides a potential cure for a significant number of patients with recurrent VAs.
- Ablation therapy can be life-saving for patients with a high burden of VAs or advanced heart failure.
- Research continues to refine optimal targets and procedural techniques for VAs.
Conclusions:
- Catheter ablation is a crucial therapeutic option for managing recurrent VAs.
- Careful patient selection and management are key to successful ablation outcomes.
- Understanding the link between structural heart disease and VA origin improves treatment efficacy.
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