Ventricular tachycardia inducibility after radiofrequency ablation affects the outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators: The role of left ventricular function

We hypothesized that inducibility of the VT responsible for ICD therapies at the end of RFCA, would also be associated with a differential risk, depending on left ventricular function. We retrospectively studied 66 patients with previous myocardial infarction and with ICD who also underwent RFCA for recurrent refractory VTs. During the follow-up only 19 patients (29%) showed VTs. Among patients with ejection fraction (EF) a parts per thousand currency sign 35%, 11 out of 25 still continued to have VT recurrences, independent of the inducibility of the VT. Among patients with EF > 35% and < 50%, no recurrent VT was any longer detected in the nine patients in whom the VT was not inducible, while VT recurrences still continued only in the eight patients in whom it was. Finally, all the 24 patients with EF a parts per thousand yen50% did not show any recurrent VT. Our findings confirm the role of RFCA in reducing ICD therapies and also place RFCA in the overall clinical management of recurrent post infarction VTs according to the left ventricular function.