RADIOFREQUENCY CATHETER ABLATION OF ATRIAL TACHYCARDIA

Background: Atrial tachycardia is a relatively uncommon arrhythmia whi ch usually responds poorly to antiarrhythmic drug therapy. Transcathet er radiofrequency (RF) ablation is a new therapeutic modality for pati ents with atrial tachycardia. Aim: This study analyses our early exper ience with the treatment of atrial tachycardia by this technique. Meth ods: Thirteen consecutive patients(age 13-63 years) with 15 drug-refra ctory atrial tachycardia foci were treated with RF catheter ablation. Atrial tachycardia was mapped by seeking the earliest atrial activatio n in the right atrium in eight patients and in the left atrium in five . Results: Tachycardias were abolished in nine (69%) patients, includi ng two sinoatrial re-entrant tachycardias and seven automatic atrial t achycardias, after 9 +/- 10 (range, one to 28) pulses of RF current. S ix of these ablated atrial tachycardia foci were right sided and three were on the left. One patient had three separate right atrial tachyca rdia foci; one was eliminated. Tachycardia recurred after two weeks in one patient with apparently successful ablation of sinoatrial re-entr ant tachycardia. One patient with successful ablation of a right atria l tachycardia developed cardiac tamponade requiring surgical intervent ion. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that atrial tachycardia arisi ng from diverse sites can be eliminated by RF catheter ablation.