Origin of electrical activation within the right atrial and left ventricular walls: differentiation by electrogram characteristics using the noncontact mapping system.

Clinical data using the noncontact mapping system (Ensite 3000) suggest that characteristics of the reconstructed unipolar electrograms may predict the origin of electrical activation within the atrial and ventricular walls (endocardial vs myocardial vs epicardial origin). Experimental data are lacking. In ten open-chest pigs (mean body weight 62 kg) cardiac pacing was performed at a cycle length of 600 ms with a pulse width of 2 ms and twice diastolic threshold from the endo-, the myo-, and the epicardium, respectively. Pacing was undertaken at three right atrial and three left ventricular sites, and cardiac activation was recorded with the Ensite system. Reconstructed unipolar electrograms at the location of earliest endocardial activation assessed by color coded isopotential maps were analyzed systematically for differences in morphology. The positive predictive value of atrial electrograms exhibiting an initial R wave during pacing for a subendocardial origin (i.e., myocardial or epicardial) was 0.96. The negative predictive value was 0.48. Electrograms generated during myocardial pacing exhibited increased maximal negative voltage and maximal dV/dt (-3 +/- 1.8 mV, -798 +/- 860 mV/ms, respectively) than the electrograms obtained during endocardial (-2 +/- 1 mV, -377 +/- 251 mV/ms, respectively) and epicardial pacing (-2.1 +/- 0.7 mV, -440 +/- 401 mV/ms, respectively, P<0.01 for both parameters). During pacing at the left ventricular wall, occurrence of an initial R wave did not differ significantly between electrograms reconstructed during endocardial and subendocardial pacing. All other characteristics of the unipolar ventricular electrograms analyzed, except latency, did not differ significantly when compared to stimulation depth. Morphological characteristics of unipolar electrograms generated by the noncontact mapping system during pacing of the atrium allowed for discrimination of an endocardial versus a subendocardial origin of activation. At the ventricular level, characteristics of unipolar electrograms did not predict the origin of cardiac activation in this experimental setting.

Intraatrial reentrant tachycardias in patients after atrial switch procedures for d-transposition of the great arteries Endocardial mapping and radiofrequency catheter ablation primarily targeting protected areas of atrial tissue within the systemic venous atrium.

Thirteen patients with d-transposition of the great arteries after the Mustard/Senning procedure underwent electrophysiological study for recurrent intraatrial reentrant tachycardia (IARTs). In 8 patients, a 20-pole electrode catheter and a steerable 7F mapping and ablation catheter were placed in the systemic venous atrium, and via the retrograde route in the pulmonary venous atrium, if required. During IART pace mapping and entrainment mapping were performed in order to localize protected areas of atrial tissue between anatomical and/or surgical barriers of electrical isolation. The systemic venous atrium of 5 patients was studied using the non-contact mapping system (Ensite 3000(TM)). Linear radiofrequency current lesions were induced after mapping of electrical protected areas from the medial aspect of the superior caval vein to the systemic venous atrium and/or intraatrial baffle or the intraatrial suture line in 4 patients, from the medial aspect of mitral valve annulus to the inferior caval vein in 5 patients, from the intraatrial suture line to the posterior systemic venous atrium in 1 patient and in 2 patients from the posterior and inferior pulmonary venous atrium to the tricuspid valve annulus. Subsequently, 14 of the 15 identified IARTs were not inducible during repeated programmed stimulation. Mean duration of the electrophysiological study was 202 min, mean fluoroscopy time was 21.6 min. During follow-up (mean 20 months), 10 of 12 patients with successful procedures are free of tachycardia, 2 patients developed IARTs with a new morphology. In the majority of our patients, curative treatment was feasible by induction of linear radiofrequency current lesions by primarily targeting electrical protected areas of atrial tissue in the systemic venous atrium.