Fast rate (≥ 250 beats/min) right ventricular burst stimulation is useful for ventricular tachycardia induction in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy / 老年心脏病学杂志（英文版）

ABSTRACT

Background One of the major challenges in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) ablation is ventricular tachy-cardia (VT) non-inducibility. The study aimed to assess whether fast rate (≥ 250 beats/min) right ventricular burst stimulation was useful for VT induction in patients with ARVC.Methods Ninety-one consecutive ARVC patients with clinical sustained VT that underwent electro-physiological study were enrolled. The stimulation protocol was implemented at both right ventricular apex and outflow tract as follows Step A, up to double extra-stimuli; Step B, incremental stimulation with low rate (< 250 beats/min); Step C, burst stimulation with fast rate (≥ 250 beats/min); Step D, repeated all steps above with intravenous infusion of isoproterenol.Results A total of 76 patients had inducible VT (83.5%), among which 49 were induced by Step C, 15 were induced by Step B, 8 and 4 by Step A and D, respectively. Clinical VTs were induced in 60 patients (65.9%). Only two spontaneously ceased ventricular fibrillations were induced by Step C. Multivariate analysis showed that a narrower baseline QRS duration under sinus rhythm was independently associated with VT non-inducibility (OR 1.1; 95% CI 1.0–1.1;P = 0.019).ConclusionFast rate (≥ 250 beats/min) right ventricular burst stimulation provides a useful supplemental method for VT induction in ARVC patients.