Contact force ablation of accessory pathways in pediatric patients

Contact force (CF) catheters provide feedback confirming adequate tissue contact for optimal lesion size and minimal complications. CF ablation catheters have resulted in decreased procedure times and improved outcomes for ablation of atrial fibrillation in adults. There is limited data evaluating CF use for accessory pathway (AP) ablation or in pediatric patients. The aim of our study was to compare a cohort who underwent AP ablation with a CF catheter to historical controls, evaluating for differences in procedure times, number of lesions, and outcomes.

A retrospective chart review of CF ablation cases at Children's Wisconsin performed between June 2015 to April 2018 was compared to a historical control cohort of traditional radiofrequency (RF) ablations between June 2012 and June 2015. 43 patients with APs underwent 49 CF ablation procedures (18 males, 13.6 ± 3 years old) and a control cohort consisted of 77 procedures in 69 patients (38 males, 12.4 ± 4 years).

The groups did not differ significantly on procedure time (CF 2.01 ± 0.48 h, control 1.53 ± 0.48 h, p = .37), or total lesions administered (CF and control 7 ± 6 lesions, p = .89). CF cases showed a trend toward improvement in acute success (98% CF, 90% controls, p = .15) though with increased recurrence compared to controls (13% CF, 4.3% controls, p = .16), neither being statistically significant.

Our study suggests that ablation outcomes using CF are comparable to traditional RF ablation in pediatric patients with APs.