Background: Idiopathic epicardial ventricular arrhythmias can be targeted from the coronary venous system or the pericardial space, the endocardium, or the aortic sinus cusps.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze systematically the contribution of ablation at sites other than the epicardium to eliminate an arrhythmia originating in the epicardium.
Methods: In a consecutive patient series of 33 patients (14 women, age 51 ± 14 years, ejection fraction 51% ± 9%) with epicardial ventricular arrhythmias, mapping and ablation was performed via the cardiac venous system/pericardial space, the aortic sinus cusp, and the left ventricular endocardium. An arrhythmia was defined as epicardial if the earliest onset of activation and a matching pace-map (≥10/12 leads) were identified in the epicardium.
Results: In 12/33 patients (36%), either an endocardial approach alone (n = 3) or a combined endocardial/epicardial (n = 6), cusp/endocardial (n = 1), or cusp/epicardial (n = 2) approach was required to eliminate the ventricular arrhythmias. In 10 of 33 patients (30%), epicardial ablation alone was effective in eliminating epicardial ventricular arrhythmias. Ablation was ineffective due to failure to reach the site of origin with the ablation catheter in 5 of 33 patients (15%), the site of origin was too close to an epicardial artery or the phrenic nerve in 3 patients (6%), and power delivery was insufficient in 3 patients (9%).
Conclusion: About one-third of epicardial arrhythmias require ablation from sites other than the epicardium to eliminate the arrhythmia focus.
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