INTRAVENTRICULAR ELECTROGRAM MAPPING AND RADIOFREQUENCY CARDIAC ABLATION FOR VENTRICULAR-TACHYCARDIA

Since its first use in the early 1980s, radiofrequency catheter ablati on has gained acceptance as primary therapy for many cardiac rhythm di sorders. This article reviews fundamentals of cardiac mapping and radi ofrequency ablation and their clinical use for treatment of ventricula r tachycardia. The review concludes that the use of radiofrequency abl ation to cure ventricular tachycardia has consistently increased over the years, as better mapping and ablation tools have been made availab le to the medical community. Presently, high success and low complicat ion rates are achieved only in patients with bundle branch, idiopathic , or monomorphic and stable ventricular tachycardias. The reviewed stu dies and reports suggest that, in order to increase the success rates in patients with ventricular tachycardias caused by coronary artery di sease, mapping systems that can identify arrhythmogenic pathways more accurately and more efficiently and ablation devices capable of genera ting larger lesions are needed.