Noncontact three-dimensional mapping guides catheter ablation of difficult atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia.
BACKGROUND
Atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) is the most common supraventricular tachycardia in adulthood. Although selective ablation of the slow AV nodal pathway can cure AVNRT, accidental AV block may occur. The details on the electrophysiologic characteristics, quantitative data on the voltage inside Koch's triangle, and the use of three-dimensional noncontact mapping to facilitate the catheter ablation of AVNRT associated with a high-risk for AV block or other arrhythmias have been limited.


RESULTS
Nine patients (M/F=5/4, 34+/-23 years, range 17-76) with clinically documented AVNRT were included. All patients had undergone previous sessions for slow AV nodal pathway ablation but they had failed, because of repetitive episodes of complete AV block during the RF energy applications. Further, one patient had a complex anatomy and 4 patients were associated with other tachycardias, respectively. The electrophysiologic studies revealed that 4 patients had the slow-fast, 4 the slow-intermediate and one the fast-intermediate form of AVNRT. Noncontact mapping demonstrated two types of antegrade AV nodal conduction, markedly differing sites of the earliest atrial activation during retrograde VA conduction, and a lower range of voltage within Koch's triangle. The lowest border of the retrograde conduction region was defined on the map, and the application of the RF energy was delivered below that border to prevent the occurrence of AV block. The distance between the successful ablation lesions and the lowest border of the retrograde conduction region was significantly shorter in the patients with the slow-intermediate form of AVNRT than in those with the slow-fast form (5.5+/-3.4 vs. 15+/-7.6 mm; p<0.05). After the ablation procedure, either rapid pacing or extrastimulation could not induce any tachycardia, and there was no recurrence during the follow-up (10.3+/-5.4, 2 to 22 months).


CONCLUSIONS
Noncontact mapping could effectively demonstrate the antegrade and retrograde atrionodal conduction patterns, electrophysiologic characteristics of Koch's triangle, and guide the successful catheter ablation in difficult AVNRT cases.
Lee
Pi-Chang
PC
Department of Pediatrics, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Tai
Ching-Tai
CT
Lin
Yenn-Jiang
YJ
Liu
Tu-Ying
TY
Huang
Bien-Hsien
BH
Higa
Satoshi
S
Yuniadi
Yoga
Y
Lee
Kun-Tai
KT
Hwang
Betau
B
Chen
Shih-Ann
SA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D022062:Electrophysiologic Techniques, Cardiac / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013611:Tachycardia, Atrioventricular Nodal Reentry / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome