title: Catheter Ablation of Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia and Ventricular Fibrillation.
abstract: Recently, catheter ablation (CA) has become a therapeutic option to target focal triggers of polymorphic ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation (VF) in the setting of electrical storm (ES). This strategy was first described in subjects without organic heart disease (i.e. idiopathic VF) and subsequently in other conditions, especially in patients with ischaemic heart disease. In the majority of cases, the triggering focus originates in the ventricular Purkinje system. In patients with Brugada syndrome, besides ablation of focal trigger in the right ventricular outflow tract, modification of a substrate in this region has been described to prevent recurrences of VF. In conclusion, CA appears to be a reasonable strategy for intractable cases of ES due to focally triggered polymorphic ventricular tachycardia and VF. Therefore, early transport of the patient into the experience centre for CA should be considered since the procedure could be in some cases life-saving. Therefore, the awareness of this entity and link to the nearest expert centre are important.
authors.affiliation: Head;
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kautzner
authors.affiliation: Consultant Electrophysiologist, Department of Cardiology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Peichl
keywords: Brugada syndrome; Ventricular fibrillation; catheter ablation; ischaemic heart disease; long QT syndrome; polymorphic ventricular tachycardia; ventricular premature beats