13th International Congress
THE "NEW FRONTIERS"
OF ARRHYTHMIAS 1998

January 24-31, 1998
Marilleva, Trento, Italy

RT-122

Electrophysiological and pathological correlations in transcatheter ablation of the atrioventricular junction

Domenico Corrado, Renato Ometto, Andrea Corrado, Cristina Basso, Mario Vincenzi, Gaetano Thiene.
Departments of Cardiology and Pathology, University of Padua Medical School, Division of Cardiology, Civil Hospital, Vicenza, Italy

Introduction

The technique of transcatheter ablation of the atrioventricular (AV) junction involves the delivery of either high energy direct current-shock or radiofrequency current to catheter electrodes positioned on the AV junctional specialized conduction system, namely the AV node and His Purkinjie axis¹. This technique is quick and effective in producing permanent and complete AV block in patients with drug-resistent supraventricular tachyarrhythmias^1-6.

Although previous investigations addressed the ablation-induced morphologic changes of the specialized AV conducting tissue^6-9, there are a few studies correlating electrophysiologic and histopathologic findings of the AV conduction axis⁶. The aim of the present study was to correlate electrophysiological mapping of AV junctional area and topography of transcatheter ablation lesions in the AV conduction system.