title: Catheter ablation of electrical storm in a collaborative hospital network.
abstract: An electrical storm (ES) is defined as multiple ventricular arrhythmia episodes leading to implantable cardioverter defibrillator interventions. Although conventional rhythm stabilization might be of help acutely, ES involves high mortality and morbidity. We evaluated the effect of catheter ablation strategies in the setting of an interhospital collaborative network on the recurrence of ventricular arrhythmia episodes and mortality in patients with ES. Consecutive patients presenting for invasive treatment of ES from December 2007 to December 2009 were included. All patients underwent catheter ablation of ventricular arrhythmia. The strategies were adapted to the individual cardiac pathologic features. The follow-up examination constituted periodic implantable cardioverter defibrillator interrogation. A total of 32 patients were included. Of the 32 patients, 29 (91%) had monomorphic ventricular tachycardia and 3 ventricular fibrillation. The mean number of implantable cardioverter defibrillator-treated episodes within 7 days before ablation was 16 ± 11. Of the 32 patients, 27 underwent ablation within 24 hours after admission, and 5 underwent acute ablation within 8 hours. In 3 patients, epicardial ablation was performed. In all but 2 patients (6%), the clinical arrhythmia was successfully ablated. During a median follow-up of 15 months, 10 patients (31%) had recurrences of sustained ventricular arrhythmia, including 2 patients (6%) with recurrent ES. Three patients (9%) died during the follow-up period. In conclusion, catheter ablation effectively suppressed ventricular arrhythmia midterm recurrences in patients presenting with ES. Catheter ablation is complex in these severely sick patients. The recurrence rate of ventricular arrhythmia appears to be 31% and the mortality rate to be 9%. Collaborative hospital networks to increase the prompt availability of ES ablation might help to optimize the ES outcome.
authors.affiliation: Academic Heart Center Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Deneke
authors.forename: Dong-in
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lawo
authors.forename: Leif
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bösche
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Balta
authors.forename: Helge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Anders
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bünz
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horlitz
authors.forename: Peter Hubert
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Grewe
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lemke
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mügge
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D057791:Cardiac Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D005471:Fluoroscopy; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008875:Middle Aged; D012041:Regional Medical Programs; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy