Feasibility of a Noncontact Catheter for Endocardial Mapping of Human Ventricular Tachycardia

R. J. Schilling, N. S. Peters, D. W. Davies
1999 Circulation  
Background-Catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT) is limited by difficulty in identifying suitable sites for ablation. This study assesses use of a system capable of simultaneous endocardial mapping of the human left ventricle to map and guide radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation of VT. Methods and Results-A catheter-mounted noncontact multielectrode array was used to reconstruct 3360 electrograms, superimposed onto a computer-simulated endocardial model. Of 24 patients studied, 20
more » ... ad ischemic heart disease. Exit sites were demonstrated by the noncontact system in 80 (99%) of 81 VTs, with complete VT circuits traced in 17 (21%). In another 37 VTs, 36Ϯ30% (meanϮSD) of the diastolic interval was identified. Thirty-eight VT morphologies were ablated with 154 RF energy applications. Successful ablation was achieved by 77% of RF applications to relevant diastolic activity identified by the system and was significantly more likely (PϽ0.0001) than by RF at the VT exit or remote from diastolic activation. Over a mean follow-up of 1.5 years, 14 patients (64%) have had no recurrence of VT, and only 2 target VTs (5.3%) have recurred. Five patients have had recurrence of other VTs. Conclusions-This noncontact mapping system identified diastolic portions of the circuit in most VTs studied and can safely map and guide ablation of human VT. (Circulation. 1999;99:2543-2552.)
doi:10.1161/01.cir.99.19.2543 pmid:10330386 fatcat:vzts2oinzvfgjns4vyh26zzwv4