Catheter ablation of supraventricular tachycardia after tricuspid valve surgery in patients with congenital heart disease: A multicenter comparative study

BACKGROUND Tricuspid valve (TV) surgery is often required for adult congenital heart disease (ACHD), but may hinder catheter ablation when an artificial material or imbricated tissue covers the tricuspid annulus. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this studywas to determine the outcomes of catheter ablation after TV surgery in a large ACHD cohort. METHODS An international retrospective study involving 7 centers was conducted. Patients who did and did not undergo TV surgery werematched for age, lesion classification, and postsurgical duration. TV operations were classified as valve ring/replacement vs repair. RESULTS One hundred thirty-six patients (42 ring/replacement, 39 repair, and 55 no TV surgery; median 32 years [IQR 20 - 46]) underwent 180 procedures targeting 239 tachycardias (cavotricuspid-isthmus dependent intraatrial reentrant tachycardia 36%, other intraatrial reentrant tachycardia 29%, focal atrial tachycardia 18%, and other supraventricular tachyarrhythmia 17%). Post-TV surgery, procedures were longer (4.3 hours vs 3.3 hours; P = .003) and required longer fluoroscopy time (31 minutes vs 18minutes; P = .001). At least partial acute success was achieved in 81% of procedures in the TV ring/replacement group vs 94% in both TV repair and no TV surgery groups (P5.03). The difference was driven mainly by ablation of annular substrates, with acute success in 73% of TV ring/replacement, 92% of TV repair, and 94% of no TV surgery groups (P5.01). Over a median of 3.0 years, tachycardia recurred after 26% of procedures. TV ring/replacement predicted recurrence in the multivariable analysis (hazard ratio 2.4; 95% confidence interval 1.2-5.2; P = .009). CONCLUSION After surgery for ACHD, catheter ablation success was lower and tachycardia recurrence was higher after TV valve ring/replacement surgery. The findings of this retrospective report support future larger multicenter series and prospective evaluation to determine the role of empirical annular substrate ablation.