Recurrence rate after accessory pathway ablation.

OBJECTIVE--To evaluate characteristics of patients and accessory pathways as well as additional technical factors involved in the reappearance of accessory pathway conduction after successful ablation. DESIGN--Analysis of recurrences after radiofrequency ablation. SETTING--163 consecutive patients with 167 accessory pathways. SUBJECTS--97 men and 66 women with a mean (SD) age of 36 (14) range (11 to 75) years. RESULTS--After a mean (SD) follow up of 14 (7) range (2 to 27) months, conduction recurred in 13 out of 167 (7.8%) accessory pathways. The initial manifestation of recurrence was circus movement tachycardia in 7 patients and reappearance of delta waves on a 12 lead electrocardiogram in 6 patients. The interval to the return of accessory pathway conduction ranged from 3 hours to 90 days. Age, sex, presence of multiple accessory pathways, criteria to determine the target ablation site, number and duration of radiofrequency applications, and cumulative energy did not significantly differ between the groups with recurrence and without. Recurrence was less common with concealed accessory pathways (2/44) than with overt accessory pathways (11/110). The difference was not significant. The only variable to influence the recurrences in this study group was the location of the accessory pathway. Reappearance of conduction through right sided accessory pathways occurred significantly more often than through left sided ones (8/40 v 5/114, P = 0.01). CONCLUSION--After radiofrequency ablation the recurrence rate of accessory pathways is low and there are no predictors of the risk of reappearance of conduction apart from the right sided location of the accessory pathway.