Catheter ablation for papillary muscle arrhythmias: A systematic review

Catheter ablation of papillary muscle ventricular arrhythmias (PM-VAs) has been associated with unsatisfactory results. Features that may affect acute and long-term procedural outcomes are not well established.

To systematically review the available data in the literature assessing efficacy and safety of PM-VAs catheter ablation.

An online search of PubMed, Cochrane Registry, Web of Science, Scopus and EMBASE libraries (from inception to March 1, 2021) was performed, in addition to manual screening. Twenty-one observational noncontrolled case-series were considered eligible for the systematic review, including 536 patients.

Postero-medial PM harbored 60.8% of PM-VAs, while antero-lateral PM and right ventricular PMs 34.9% and 4.3% of cases, respectively. The mean acute success rate of the index ablation procedure was 88.1% (95% CI 82.8% to 91.9%, p < .001, I² 0%). After a mean follow-up period of 15.5 ± 17.4 months, pooled long-term arrhythmia-free rate was 69.2%, while the pooled long-term success rate after multiple ablation procedure was 84.9%. Overall, procedure complications occurred in nine patients (1.7%) and no procedure-related deaths were reported. The use of intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) as well as contact force sensing (CFS) and irrigated catheters during ablation was associated with higher rates of arrhythmia-freedom at long-term follow-up.

Catheter ablation is an effective and safe strategy for PM-VAs, with an acute success rate of 88.1%, a long-term success rate of 69.2%, with a relatively low procedural complication rate. The use of ICE, irrigated catheters and catheters with CFS capability was associated with higher rates of arrhythmia-freedom at long-term follow-up.