title: The first Latin American Catheter Ablation Registry.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the results of transcatheter ablation of cardiac arrhythmias in Latin America and establish the first Latin American transcatheter ablation registry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All ablation procedures performed between 1 January and 31 December 2012 were analysed retrospectively. Data were obtained on the characteristics and resources of participating centres (public or private institution, number of beds, cardiac surgery availability, type of room for the procedures, days per week assigned to electrophysiology procedures, type of fluoroscopy equipment, availability and type of electroanatomical mapping system, intracardiac echo, cryoablation, and number of electrophysiologists) and the results of 17 different ablation substrates: atrio-ventricular node reentrant tachycardia, typical atrial flutter, atypical atrial flutter, left free wall accessory pathway, right free wall accessory pathway, septal accessory pathway, right-sided focal atrial tachycardia, left-sided focal atrial tachycardia, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, atrio-ventricular node, premature ventricular complex, idiopathic ventricular tachycardia, post-myocardial infarction ventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia in chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy, ventricular tachycardia in congenital heart disease, and ventricular tachycardias in other structural heart diseases. Data of 15 099 procedures were received from 120 centres in 13 participating countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela). Accessory pathway was the group of arrhythmias most frequently ablated (31%), followed by atrio-ventricular node reentrant tachycardia (29%), typical atrial flutter (14%), and atrial fibrillation (11%). Overall success was 92% with the rate of global complications at 4% and mortality 0.05%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Catheter ablation in Latin America can be considered effective and safe.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Electrofisiología, Hospital Privado del Sur, 164th Las Heras St, 8000, Bahía Blanca, Argentina robertokeegan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Keegan
authors.affiliation: Centro Privado de Cardiología, Tucumán, Argentina.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aguinaga
authors.affiliation: Paulista School of Medicine, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Guilherme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fenelon
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Electrofisiología, CES Cardiología y Clínica Las Américas, Medellín, Colombia.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Uribe
authors.affiliation: Centro Médico Nacional 20 De Noviembre, ISSSTE, México.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodriguez Diez
authors.affiliation: Instituto do Coração da FMUSP, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scanavacca
authors.affiliation: Unidad Especializada de Arritmias, Caracas, Venezuela.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Patete
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional Cardiovascular INCOR EsSalud, Lima, Perú
authors.forename: Ricardo Zegarra
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: Carhuaz
authors.affiliation: CEMIC, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Labadet
authors.affiliation: Hospital Nacional Alejandro Posadas, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Zuloaga
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Cardiología de Corrientes, Corrientes, Argentina.
authors.forename: Domingo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pozzer
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Scazzuso
mesh_terms: D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000453:epidemiology; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Arrhythmias; Catheter ablation; Latin America; Registry