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

January 24-31, 1998
Marilleva, Trento, Italy

RT-152

Catheter ablation of ventricular ectopic beats in patients with subtle right ventricle abnormalities revealed by magnetic resonance imaging

Giuseppe Oreto*, Carlo Pappone, Maria Luisa Loricchio, Renata Mellone**, Mariano Rillo, Filippo Lamberti, Maria Pia Calabro*, Alessandro Del Maschio**, Sergio Chierchia.
**S. Raffaele Hospital, Department of Cardiology, and Department of Radiology, Milan,
*University of Messina, Department of Cardiology, Messina, Italy

Introduction

Ventricular ectopic beats (VEBs) are common both in normal subjects and in patients with structural heart disease. When numerous, VEBs are at times associated with disabling symptoms, but in most cases no specific antiarrhythmic treatment is required, especially in the absence of heart disease.

Radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation has recently been reported as a possible therapeutic approach in selected patients suffering from frequent and highly symptomatic isolated VEBs, in the absence of structural cardiac disease^1-3. The present study was undertaken to assess the possibility of treating by RF ablation patients with VEBs and apparently normal heart, in whom magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated subtle, although definite, anatomical abnormalities involving the right ventricle.