New techniques in catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia

Catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT) has proven to be effectiv e in only a minority of VT patients. Therefore there is great interest in t he development of new mapping and ablation techniques. New mapping procedur es include multielectrode catheter mapping via the epicardial cardiac arter ies and veins and the multielectrode basket catheter. Computerized non-cont act mapping offers a three-dimensional approach in defining the activation sequence during VT. New ablative techniques are "cooled" radiofrequency ene rgy application and microwave ablation which allow deeper and larger lesion s. Already used in clinical practice are the application of laser energy an d chemical ablation. New developments are ultrasound-, cryo- and thermal ab lation. It can be suspected that some of these new achievements will lead t o better results in VT ablation.