Journal of cardiovascular electrophysiology
-
J. Cardiovasc. Electrophysiol. · Mar 2019
Multicenter Study Observational StudyA multicentered evaluation of ablation at higher power guided by ablation index: Establishing ablation targets for pulmonary vein isolation.
Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using high power delivered by SmartTouch Surround Flow (STSF) catheters guided by ablation index (AI) was evaluated in a multicenter registry. ⋯ High-powered ablation guided by AI was safe and led to shorter procedure times with reduced acute PV reconnection compared with conventional ablation.
-
J. Cardiovasc. Electrophysiol. · Mar 2019
Comparative StudyAmiodarone is associated with adverse outcomes in patients with sustained ventricular arrhythmias upgraded to cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillators.
Amiodarone reduces recurrent ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTA) but may worsen cardiovascular outcomes in heart failure (HF) patients. Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) may also be antiarrhythmic. When patients with prior sustained VTA are upgraded to CRT defibrillators (CRT-D) from conventional implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), should concomitant amiodarone be continued or is CRT's antiarrhythmic potential sufficient? ⋯ In patients with sustained VTA and LBBB upgraded from conventional ICDs to CRT defibrillators, concomitant amiodarone use is associated with less QRS narrowing, less LVEF improvement, greater risk of death, transplant, or VAD, and similar risk of recurrent VTA.