Successful radiofrequency catheter ablation therapy of an adolescent with atrial ectopic tachycardia

Atrial ectopic tachycardia is an incessant supraventricular tachycardia and is frequently refractory to medical treatment. Because it can cause tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy, early diagnosis and treatment is important. We present a 16-year-old boy who was diagnosed as atrial ectopic tachycardia. The tachycardia, originating from the lower region of the right atrium along the crista terminalis was terminated by successful radiofrequency ablation treatment. The tachycardia did not recur in eight months of follow-up

Catheter fragment embolization: a rare yet serious complication of catheter use in pediatric oncology

Embolization is a rare but serious complication of venous central catheters in pediatric oncology. The reported cases in the literature are due in common to catheter ruptures. The most common cause is constant compression of the costoclavicular arch, known as "pinch-off" syndrome. We report a seven-year-old boy in whom embolization occurred as a late complication. Difficulty in the dissection of dense collagen periportal fibrosis was the main problem during the extraction session. The embolization occurred 10 months later. In an elective setting, percutaneous retrieval techniques were used successfully to extract the catheter fragments, and full recovery was achieved

Endovascular stent implantation for coarctation of the aorta in children and young adults: intermediate follow-up results from Turkey

The aim of this study was to report the intermediate follow-up results of stent implantation for coarctation of the aorta in children from Turkey. Patients with native or postoperative coarctation, who had abnormal flow at the descending aorta exceeding diastolic phase on Doppler echocardiography or upper extremity hypertension, underwent endovascular stent implantation. Ten patients with a mean age of 12.4 +/- 5.5 years (6-23 years) underwent stent implantation between January 2001 and September 2006. Of these, three had previous surgical repair, and the remainder were native coarctation. Palmaz, Genesis and Numed CP stents were used. All the implantations were successful and there was no major complication during the procedure. The follow-up period was 8-72 months and only one patient needed re-dilatation during this period. Stent implantation may be a feasible alternative to balloon angioplasty and surgery for adolescents. Patients who have previous surgical repair, high surgical risk, unfavorable anatomy, or refuse consent for surgical intervention are the best candidates for stent implantation. However, longer follow-up and new studies are necessary especially in younger patients

Adult type anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a clinical entity characterized by myocardial necrosis which becomes symptomatic shortly after birth; survival beyond infancy is uncommon because of severe left heart failure. To our knowledge, it is rare for an ALCAPA patient to survive to adulthood. Here we present a case of a 17-year-old girl with ALCAPA who was referred to our hospital because of palpitation and dyspnea

Premature ventricular contractions in normal children

Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) are frequently seen in children with normal cardiac findings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics and the prognosis of PVCs in children with normal heart. This study included 149 children with PVC who did not have systemic or cardiac disease. Their median age at diagnosis was 10 years (range 1 month to 17 years). Seventy-six children (51%) were symptomatic. Most of the patients had unifocal PVC, whereas 5 (3.1%) of them had multifocal PVCs. The patients were evaluated by repeated Holter recordings and exercise test. In the first Holter monitoring recordings, PVCs were in the form of isolated PVC in 122 (82%) patients, couplet-triplet in 14 (9%) patients and nonsustained ventricular tachycardia in 13 (9%) patients. The exercise test was performed in 105 (70.5%) patients. The frequency of PVCs decreased and disappeared in 65 (61.9%) children, increased in 8 (7.6%), and were unchanged during exercise in 32 (30.5%). There was no difference between the groups according to exercise response regarding PVC quantity. Fifty-two of 149 children (35%) were followed up for a median period of 22 months. After follow-up, PVCs of 25 of the 52 patients (48.1%) decreased and disappeared. We did not find any correlation between the frequency of PVC and treatment, age, gender or the PVC frequency decrease with exercise. In conclusion, PVCs in normal children have benign prognosis and during follow-up a considerable percent show improvement

Spontaneous resolution of ventricular tachycardia with right bundle branch block morphology: a case report

Ventricular tachycardia is rare in children. In the absence of structural heart disease, ventricular tachycardia is known as idiopathic ventricular tachycardia and carries a good prognosis. We report a 14-month-old male child with right bundle branch block incessant ventricular tachycardia without structural heart disease. In this patient ventricular tachycardia was controlled by amiodarone and disappeared during follow-up. We want to stress the benign nature of this tachycardia if the previous treatment protocol had been appropriate

Permanent form of junctional reciprocating tachycardia and tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy treated by catheter ablation: a case report

The permanent form of junctional reciprocating tachycardia (PJRT) is usually refractory to drug therapy, and these patients are at risk of developing tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy. The electrocardiogram insribes inverted P waves in leads 2, 3, aVF as well as left lateral leads, along with a P-R interval shorter than R-P interval during the tachycardia. This report describes a three-year-old male patient with PJRT who underwent successful radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFA) of accessory pathway. On transthoracic echocardiography of patient, decreased ventricular systolic function was observed. RFA was performed by applying radiofrequency pulses. Echocardiograms of the patient, two months after catheter ablation, demonstrated progressive improvement of ventricular function. Transcatheter radiofrequency ablation of accessory pathways in patients with PJRT is an effective, and possibly preferable, form of treatment, especially in cases of tachycardia refractory to multiple pharmacologic treatments or when left ventricular dysfunction is present

Cardiac dysrhythmias after transcatheter closure of ASD with Amplatzer device

Transcatheter closure of atrial septal defect (ASD) has been used as an alternative to open heart surgery. Although transcatheter closure of ASD with the Amplatzer septal occluder is a safe and feasible method in pediatric patients, there is little published data on arrhythmia analysis following transcatheter device closure of secundum ASD. We evaluated cardiac dysrhythmias with 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring after transcatheter closure of ASD with Amplatzer device. A total of 85 consecutive patients with ASD underwent transcatheter closure of secundum ASD with Amplatzer device between October 1998 and December 2003. The study involved 65 of these patients assessed by 24-hour ambulatory ECG monitoring. Seven patients were evaluated a second time by 24-hour monitorization. During the procedure, transient complete atrioventricular (AV) block was seen in two patients. One of them returned to normal sinus rhythm in catheterization lab and the other returned to normal sinus rhythm in two hours. Transient junctional rhythm was observed in another patient during the device placement. Twenty-four hour ambulatory ECG monitoring was performed on all patients after a mean four-month period (1-12 months). Holter recordings demonstrated rare supraventricular extrasystole in two patients, rare ventricular premature beats in two patients, and intermittent sinus arrest with sinus pause lastin

Transesophageal electrophysiologic study in children and young patients

Transesophageal electrophysiologic study (TEEPS) is a semi-invasive method of atrial stimulation and recording. The aim of the study was to report our experience with TEEPS in children and young adults. A total of 153 TEEPS were performed in 147 consecutive patients aged between 26 days to 26 years (mean 9.8 years) with the following indications: evaluation of symptoms that may be signs of any arrhythmias in 89 procedures (Group A), risk assessment of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) in 17 procedures (Group B), determination of the mechanism of previously detected or ongoing tachycardia on ECG or Holter monitoring in 22 procedures (Group C), assessment of antiarrhythmic therapy effectiveness in 17 procedures (Group D), and follow-up of radiofrequency ablation procedure (RFA) in 8 procedures (Group E). A similar pacing protocol was performed for induction of tachycardia in each patient. Tachycardia was induced in a total of 72 procedures (72/153, 47%): 32/89 (36%) in Group A, 13/17 (76.5%) in Group B, 12/22 (54.5%) in Group C, 12/17 (70.6%) in Group D and 3/8 (37.5%) in Group E. In Group A, the ventriculoatrial (VA) interval of inducible tachycardia was found to be shorter than 70 msec in 16/32 (50%) and longer than 70 msec in 12/32 (37.5%) patients and these patients were diagnosed as having atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) and atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (AVRT), respectively. In this group, 1 atrial tachycardia, 2 junctional ectopic tachycardia, 1 sinus node reentrant tachycardia and 1 permanent junctional reciprocating tachycardia (PJRT) were also diagnosed. In conclusion, transesophageal atrial stimulation is a valuable tool in the initial evaluation of patients with symptoms possibly related with arrhythmia or in the management of patients who have any arrhythmia

Clinical importance of transesophageal electrophysiologic study in the management of supraventricular tachycardia in children

Transesophageal electrophysiologic study (TEEPS) is a semi-invasive method widely used for evaluation of symptoms related to arrhythmia. In this study, we aimed to determine the accuracy of TEEPS in the diagnosis and differentiation of mechanisms of supraventricular tachycardias (SVTs) by comparing results of transesophageal and intracardiac electrophysiologic studies. We performed TEEPS and a subsequent radiofrequency ablation (RFA) procedure in 76 patients. Indications of TEEPS were risk assessment for Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome in 32 patients and diagnosis and differentiation of tachycardia mechanisms in 44 patients. The procedure was well tolerated in all patients. Positive predictive value of TEEPS in our study was 91% for differentiation of SVT mechanisms. The results suggest that TEEPS is safe, useful and effective in the evaluation of symptoms related to arrhythmia, in differentiation of mechanisms of SVTs, and finally in defining the treatment options of SVT. The technique also provides an opportunity for risk assessment and deciding the treatment modality in Wolff-Parkinson-White patients