Effect of ventricular tachycardia ablation on symptoms and health-related quality of life: data from a single-center registry

Abstract

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): ALF grants (County Council of Östergotland). Background Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality (1). Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators can terminate the arrhythmia and reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death but do not lower the risk of recurrence (2). Thus, the use of VT ablation as a method of prevention of VT recurrence has increased (3). Most articles have focused on the procedure’s efficacy and complications as opposed to data concerning arrhythmia-related symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Purpose We sought to examine the effect of VT ablation on patients’ symptoms and HRQoL during a one-year follow-up period. Method Patients referred for catheter ablation of VT to our university hospital between June 2012 and June 2020 were asked to fill in the validated ASTA (Arrhythmia-Specific questionnaire in Tachycardia and Arrhythmia) questionnaire for the assessment of symptoms and HRQoL before and one year after the index procedure. Results One hundred sixty-one patients filled out the ASTA questionnaire before the index procedure and 133 (83 %) at one-year follow-up. Four patients died during follow-up. Of the 133 patients eligible for analysis, 53 had ischemic VT, 45 had non-ischemic VT, and 35 had idiopathic VT. Sixty patients were also followed up in detail concerning arrhythmia recurrence by screening ICD interrogation reports, ECGs, and Holter registrations. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed a significant reduction of symptoms and improvement of HRQoL irrespective of patients’ background disease (ASTA-symptom score: whole population, as well as subpopulations p<0.001, figure 1, ASTA-HRQoL score: whole population as well as subpopulations p<0.001, figure 2) after 1.6 procedures, while 41 % of patients did not report any arrhythmia-related symptoms after one year. Sixty-eight percent of the patients did not suffer any recurrence during the first year after catheter ablation, and the major complication rate was 7%. Conclusions Catheter ablation of VT effectively reduces arrhythmia-related symptoms and improves HRQoL irrespective of patients' background disease during a follow-up period of one year.