Anatomy of a steam pop – Acute histopathology in human myocardium after ventricular tachycardia ablation

Abstract

Despite an improved understanding of the biophysics of radiofrequency (RF) energy delivery, steam pops remain a potentially serious complication of RF catheter ablation. Excessive heating and boiling resulting in intramural gas eruption from myocardial tissue can lead to cardiac perforation and may require emergent surgical repair.1,2 Visualization of the histopathologic changes, the degree of tissue destruction, and comparisons to non–steam pop RF ablation have not been reported in human myocardium in the acute phase.