Analysis of radiofrequency catheter ablation of idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias in 328 pediatric patients in a single center within 5 years / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate clinical electrophysiological characteristics of idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) and outcomes of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) in pediatric patients.Methods:A total of 328 consecutive pediatric patients with VAs and treated with RFCA in the First Hospital of Tsinghua University from January 2014 to December 2019 were recruited, involving 205 males and 123 females with the mean age of (7.8±3.9) years and the mean body weight of (32.8±17.7) kg.Their clinical electrophysiological characteristics, RFCA outcomes of different origins of VAs and complications were analyzed.Results:Among the 328 patients with the mean onset age of (5.4±4.1) years, 57.6% had frequent premature ventricular complex (PVC), 28.7% had paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia (VT) and 13.7% had incessant VT.A total of 38/328 cases (11.6%) VAs children were complicated with tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy.Except for 13 cases of non-induced VAs, among 315 cases there were 152/328 cases (46.4%) originated from the ventricular outflow tract (including 46.1% of the origination of the right ventricular outflow tract septum, 27.6% of the origination of the left coronary cusp, 18.4% of the origination of the right coronary cusp, and 7.9% of the origination of the right ventricular outflow tract free wall), 55/328 cases (16.5%) originated from the tricuspid valve, 54/328 cases (17.4%) originated from the left posterior fascicle, 39/328 cases (11.9%) originated from the left posterior papillary muscle, 5/328 cases (1.5%) originated from multi-origin VAs, 3/328 cases (0.9%) originated from the left anterior fascicle, and 7/328 cases (2.1%) originated from other origins.Among 307/328 cases (93.6%) VAs patients receiving RFCA, 271/307 cases (88.3%) were instantly successful, 14/307 cases (4.6%) were effectively treated and 22/307 cases (7.2%) were invalid.During the follow-up time of 3 to 36 months, there were 42/271 cases (15.5%) recurrent cases.The mean radiation time and dose were (3.2±5.8) min, and (1.4±2.6) mGy, respectively.The mean dose-area product (DAP) was (384.2±42.6) mGy·cm 2.A total of 4/328 cases (1.2%) reported perioperative vascular complication.In 20 infant patients younger than 3 years, only 1 case was not induced during procedure of RFCA, and the remaining 19 cases were performed with RFCA, including 18/19 cases (94.7%) with an instant success and 4/18 (22.2%) recurrent cases during follow-up.There were 1/20 case (5.0%) had perioperative vascular complication caused by vascular puncture.No serious complications, such as myocardial perforation, cardiac tamponade and atrioventricular block were reported. Conclusions:The right ventricular outflow tract septum is the most common origin of the idiopathic VAs in pediatric patients.VAs originated from the ventricular outflow tract and tricuspid valve usually have an acceptable outcome following ablation.The recurrent rate is high following ablation in VAs cases originated from the left ventricular fascicle and posterior papillary muscle.RFCA is safe and effective for drug resistant or intolerant VAs in infants, but the surgical indications should be strictly mastered and operated by experienced pediatric electrophysiologists.The radiation dose of RFCA can be limited in a safe range under the guidance of the 3-dimensional mapping system.