Ventricular tachycardia syndromes

Understanding and treatment of ventricular tachyarrhythmias have evolved si gnificantly since the 1980s. Ischemic heart disease remains the most common underlying substrate for ventricular tachyarrhythmias. The introduction of the ICD with its proven effectiveness and superiority in the prevention of SCD as compared with medical therapy led to a rapid expansion of the use o f this modality in high-risk patients. The introduction of catheter ablatio n, supported by new computer-based mapping techniques, has offered another option for cure.