title: Is transesophageal electrophysiologic study valuable in children with successful radiofrequency ablation of supraventricular tachycardia on follow-up for recurrence?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of transesophageal electrophysiologic study (TEEPS) for the determination of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) recurrences in symptomatic and asymptomatic children after successful radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for SVT.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 66 patients who underwent TEEPS after successful RFA were included. The demographic features, symptoms of the patients, and the characteristics of the recurrences induced by TEEPS were evaluated. The arrhythmia types induced during RFA were compared with those induced by TEEPS in terms of the compatibility of the diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-two (63.6%) girls and 24 (36.4%) boys with a mean age of 11.8±3.4 years were followed-up for 44.1±15.7 months. The average time between RFA and TEEPS was 5.2±5.9 months. The diagnoses during RFA were atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) in 47 of 66 patients, atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (AVRT) in 18 of 66 patients, and ectopic atrial tachycardia in 1 of 66 patients. SVT was induced by TEEPS in 2 of 25 symptomatic and 5 of 41 asymptomatic patients. The SVT inducibility rate was 5.5% (1/18) and 12.7% (6/47) in patients with AVRT and AVNRT, respectively. In addition, 85.7% (6/7) of all recurrences occurred within 3.5 months. The recurrences as AVNRT in 2 of 25 symptomatic patients occurred in the first month after RFA. AVNRT in 4 of 41 and AVRT in 1 of 41 asymptomatic patients were induced within 3.5 months and 15 months, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TEEPS seems to be a valuable screening and diagnostic method for the determination of recurrence in symptomatic and asymptomatic children who underwent successful RFA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Hacettepe University; Ankara-Turkey. mustafagulgun@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gülgün
authors.forename: Sema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Özer
authors.forename: Tevfik
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karagöz
authors.forename: Alper
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akın
authors.forename: Hayrettin Hakan
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Aykan
authors.forename: Süheyla
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Özkutlu
authors.forename: Dursun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alehan
authors.forename: Alpay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Çeliker
mesh_terms: D017115:Catheter Ablation; D002648:Child; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D022062:Electrophysiologic Techniques, Cardiac; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012008:Recurrence; D013617:Tachycardia, Supraventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery