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Ablation of manifest septal accessory pathways: a single-center experience

Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology volume 61, pages 349–355 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Ablation of septal accessory pathways (SAPs) is associated with an increased risk of heart block. Data on outcomes of SAP ablation in adults are limited.

Objectives

To describe outcomes of SAP ablation in our center.

Methods

Patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) undergoing an EP study at our center between January 2008 and August 2019 were identified from our institutional database. Location of the pathway was noted as anteroseptal (AS), midseptal (MS), or posteroseptal (PS). Outcomes of the ablation including success, complication rates, and recurrences were also recorded.

Results

Thirty-three patients with SAP underwent 35 EP studies: AS (n = 13), MS (n = 5), and PS (n = 15). Thirty pathways were targeted for ablation, two of which required a 2nd procedure resulting in 32 attempts at ablation in 30 patients. In the remaining 3 patients, SAP did not have malignant features and were not targeted for ablation. Single-procedure success rate was 28/30 (93.33%): 9/10 AS, 5/5 MS, and 14/15 PS ablations. One AS pathway was successfully ablated during a 2nd procedure. Two complications were observed: 1 pericardial effusion in a patient who underwent epicardial mapping and ablation of both PS and right free wall APs. Additionally, transient 2:1 AV block occurred during an MS pathway ablation that recovered during follow-up and did not require permanent pacing procedure.

Conclusion

In this single-center experience, ablation of manifest SAP was associated with high success rates and low complication rates. No instances of permanent heart block requiring pacing occurred.

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Affiliations

  1. Emory University School of Medicine, Medical office Tower 12th Floor, 550 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA, 30308, USA

    Matthew T. Brown, Soroosh Kiani, George B. Black, Marvin L. R. Lu, Michael Lloyd, Angel R. Leon, Anand Shah, Stacy Westerman, Faisal M. Merchant & Mikhael El-Chami

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  1. Matthew T. Brown
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  2. Soroosh Kiani
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  3. George B. Black
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  4. Marvin L. R. Lu
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  5. Michael Lloyd
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  6. Angel R. Leon
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  7. Anand Shah
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  8. Stacy Westerman
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  10. Mikhael El-Chami
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mikhael El-Chami.

Ethics declarations

The Emory University Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved the study protocol.

Conflict of interest

Mikhael El-Chami is a consultant for Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and Biotronik. All other authors have no conflict of interest to report.

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Brown, M.T., Kiani, S., Black, G.B. et al. Ablation of manifest septal accessory pathways: a single-center experience. J Interv Card Electrophysiol 61, 349–355 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-020-00823-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-020-00823-w

Keywords

  • Accessory pathways
  • Parahisian pathways
  • Cryoablation
  • Radiofrequency ablation
  • Wolff-Parkinson-White