Ventricular tachycardia induced cardiomyopathy: improvement with radiofrequency ablation

Cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure due to ventricular and supraventricular tachycardia is a well-recognized phenomenon. The mechanism of such cardiomyopathy is not clear. Ablation of the supraventricular tachycardia focus, either surgically or electrically, has been reported to result in the resolution of the left ventricular dysfunction. Similarly, the treatment of ventricular tachycardia with surgery or antitachycardia pacing has also been reported to result in improved ventricular systolic function. We present here a case of improvement in left ventricular systolic function after successful radiofrequency ablation of the ventricular tachycardia focus in the right ventricular outflow tract. We postulate that cardiomyopathy was due to the incessant or frequent ventricular tachycardia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such case being reported.