Ablation of Idiopathic Ventricular Tachycardia

Idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias occur in patients without structural heart disease. They can arise from a variety of specific areas within both ventricles and in the supravalvular regions of the great arteries. Two main groups need to be differentiated: arrhythmias from the outflow tract (OT) region and idiopathic left ventricular, so-called fascicular, tachycardias (ILVTs). OT tachycardia typically originates in the right ventricular OT, but may also occur in the left ventricular OT, particularly in the sinuses of Valsalva or the anterior epicardium or the great cardiac vein. Activation mapping or pace mapping for the OT regions and mapping of diastolic potentials in ILVTs are the mapping techniques that are typically used. The ablation of idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias is highly successful, associated with only rare complications. Newly recognized entities of idiopathic ventricular tachycardias are those originating in the papillary muscles and in the atrioventricular annular regions.