Cardiac Ablation in the Pediatric Population at a Tertiary Care Center in a Developing Country

The aim of this study was to describe our experience and outcome of ablation therapy for arrhythmias in pediatrics at a tertiary care center.

Data was collected retrospectively from the hospital medical records. All pediatrics presenting to AUBMC between 2000 and 2020 who underwent cardiac ablation were included. The data collected included type of arrhythmia, ablation technique, age and weight at ablation, procedure complications, medications used, and outcome assessment.

We had 67 patients who underwent cardiac ablation. Of those, 60% were males with a mean age of 15 years. Structural heart disease was present in 6% of patients. Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) was most prevalent at 31%, followed by atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) at 24%, atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (AVRT) at 16%, ventricular tachycardia (VT) at 10%, atrial fibrillation (AF) at 3%, and atrial tachycardia (AT) at 1%. The remaining 15% of patients presented with less common types of arrhythmias, including other supraventricular tachycardias (SVTs), retrograde dual atrioventricular nodal reentry, and premature ventricular contractions (PVC). Antiarrhythmic medications were started before the procedure in 59% of our population. Medication regimens postablation included beta-blockers (68%), type 1c antiarrhythmics (25%), calcium channel blockers (3%), ivabradine (2%), and amiodarone (2%). The completed procedures showed a success rate of 93%.

Ablation of arrhythmias in pediatrics is an effective procedure in the treatment of childhood arrhythmias. More studies are needed on cardiac ablation in this age group and those with structural heart disease in the Middle East region.