Search

Background: Initial studies have reported excellent safety and efficacy for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in patients with refractory ventricular tachycardia (VT).Methods: This is a single-center retrospective analysis of eight consecutive patients who underwent SBRT for refractory, scar-related VT. The anatomic target for radioablation was defined based on surface 12-lead ECG VT morphology, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, and electroanatomic mapping data when available. The target volume treated and the prescribed radiation dose (15-25 Gy) was based on the combined clinical assessment of the cardiac electrophysiologist and radiation oncologist. Ventricular arrhythmias, radiation-related outcomes, and adverse events were monitored at follow-up.Results: Eight patients underwent nine SBRT sessions. All patients were male with an average age of 75 ± 7.3 years and mean ejection fraction of 21 ± 7%. SBRT was performed with delivery of an average of 22.2 ± 3.6 Gy in a single session with a procedure time of 18.2 ± 6.0 min. All but one session was performed on an inpatient basis. No acute complications occurred. During a median follow-up of 7.8 months (IQR 4.8, 9.9), ICD therapies decreased from median 69.5 (43.5, 115.8) pre-SBRT to 13.3 (IQR 7.7, 35.8) post-SBRT (p = 0.036). There were three patient deaths in the follow-up period, unrelated to SBRT. Apparent clinical benefit occurred 33% of the time after SBRT.Conclusions: The patients experienced overall reduction in VT burden following SBRT, though not with the immediate effect seen in other patient series. Further studies (basic, translational, and clinical) are essential to determine the benefit of SBRT and if so, the optimal protocols and patient selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Cardiac sympathetic denervation (CSD) is utilized for the management of ventricular tachycardia (VT) in structural heart disease when refractory to radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or when patient/VT characteristics are not conducive to RFA. Methods: We studied consecutive patients who underwent CSD at our institution from 2009 to 2018 with VT requiring repeat RFA post‐CSD. Patient demographics, VT/procedural characteristics, and outcomes were assessed. Results: Ninety‐six patients had CSD, 16 patients underwent RFA for VT post‐CSD. There were 15 male and 1 female patients with mean age of 54.2 ± 13.2 years. Fourteen patients had nonischemic cardiomyopathy. A mean of 2.0 ± 0.8 RFAs for VT was unsuccessful before the patient undergoing CSD. The median time between CSD and RFA was 104 days (interquartile range [IQR] = 15–241). The clinical VT cycle length was significantly increased after CSD both spontaneously on ECG and/or ICD interrogation (355 ± 73 ms pre‐CSD vs. 422 ± 94 ms post‐CSD, p =.001) and intraprocedurally (406 ± 86 ms pre‐CSD vs. 457 ± 88 ms post‐CSD, p =.03). Two patients had polymorphic and 14 had monomorphic VT (MMVT) pre‐CSD, and all patients had MMVT post‐CSD. The proportion of mappable, hemodynamically stable VTs increased from 35% during pre‐CSD RFA to 58% during post‐CSD RFA (p =.038). At median follow‐up of 413 days (IQR = 43–1840) after RFA, eight patients had no further VT. Conclusion: RFA for recurrent MMVT post‐CSD is a reasonable treatment option with intermediate‐term clinical success in 50% of patients. Clinical VT cycle length was significantly increased after CSD with associated improvement in mappable, hemodynamically tolerated VT during RFA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]