Abstract
Background
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) may rarely occur among asymptomatic patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) pattern. Risk stratification is based on electrophysiological study (EPS). We aimed to evaluate long-term efficacy of such a strategy in preventing SCD.
Methods
Retrospective analysis of asymptomatic children with WPW who underwent EPS using isoproterenol. Patients considered at risk had inducible sustained atrial fibrillation or atrioventricular reentry tachycardia (AVRT) associated with the following: (1) accessory pathway (AP) effective refractory period or (2) 1:1 shortest cycle length along the AP or (3) shortest pre-excited R–R interval during AF ≤ 250 ms.
Results
Fifty-one consecutive cases (7–18 years, 12 ± 3) were identified, 40 (78%) with right and 11 (22%) with left AP. Twenty-eight (55%) were classified as high risk (HI) and 23 (45%) as low risk (LO), with no significant differences in demographic characteristics and AP locations. Ablation was performed in 20/28 HI and 11/23 LO patients (p 0.08), with no significant differences in acute success (20/20 versus 10/11, p 0.17) or recurrence (1/20 versus 2/10, p 0.15). Follow-up (46 ± 27 months): ablated patients remained asymptomatic; among the 23 non-ablated, 18 (78%) remained asymptomatic, 5 (22%) were successfully ablated, and 5 (22%) presented events (4 AVRT, 1 SCD). Arrhythmic events did not differ significantly between non-ablated HR and LR (2/8 versus 3/15, p 0.29) and the SCD was in the LO group.
Conclusions
More than 50% asymptomatic WPW children present high-risk AP properties. EPS-based risk stratification using isoproterenol was not able to identify increased risk of future events or SCD.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wolff L, Parkinson J, White PD. Bundle-branch block with short PR interval in healthy young people prone to paroxsismal tachycardia. Am Heart J. 1930;6:685–704.
Dreifus LS, Haiat R, Watanabe Y, Arriaga J, Reitman N. Ventricular fibrillation. A possible mechanism of sudden death in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White. Circulation. 1971;43:520–7.
Klein GJ, Bashore TM, Sellers TD, Pritchett EL, Smith WM, Gallagher JJ. Ventricular fibrillation in the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. N Engl J Med. 1979;301:1080–5.
Pappone C, Manguso F, Santinelli R, Vicedomini G, Sala S, Paglino G, Mazzone P, Lang CC, Gulletta S, Augello G, Santinelli O, Santinelli V. Radiofrequency ablation in children with asymptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2004;351:1197–205.
Pappone C, Vicedomini G, Manguso F, et al. Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome in the era of catheter ablation: insights from a registry study of 2169 patients. Circulation. 2014;130:811–9.
PACES/HRS expert consensus statement on the management of the asymptomatic young patient with a Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW, ventricular preexcitation) electrocardiographic pattern: developed in partnership between the Pediatric and Congenital Electrophysiology Society (PACES) and the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS). Endorsed by the governing bodies of PACES, HRS, the American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF), the American Heart Association (AHA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Canadian Heart Rhythm Society (CHRS). Heart Rhythm 2012;9(6):1006–24.
Saul JP, Kanter RJ, Abrams D, et al. PACES/HRS expert consensus statement on the use of catheter ablation in children and patients with congenital heart disease. Heart Rhythm. 2016;13:e251–89.
LaRocca TJ, Beyersdorf GB, Li W, Foltz R, Patel AR, Tanel RE. Comparison of electrophysiologic profiles in pediatric patients with incidentally identified pre-excitation compared with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Am J Cardiol. 2019;124:389–95.
Kubus P, Vit P, Gebauer RA, Materna O, Janousek J. Electrophysiologic profile and results of invasive risk stratification in asymptomatc children and adolescent with the Wolff-Parkinson-White electrocardiographic pattern. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2014;7:218–23.
Obeyesekere MN, Leong-Sit P, Massel D, et al. Risk of arrhythmia and sudden death in patients with asymptomatic preexcitation: a meta-analysis. Circulation. 2012;125:2308–15.
Etheridge SP, Escudero CA, Blaufox AD, Law IH, Dechert-Crooks BE, Stephenson EA, et al. Life-Threatening event risk in children with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome: a multicenter international study. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2018;4:433–44.
Chang RK, Stevenson WG, Wetzel GT, Shannon K, Baum VC, Klitzner TS. Effects of isoflurane on electrophysiological measurements in children with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol. 1996;19:1082–8.
Shwayder MH, Escudero CA, Etheridge SP, Dechert BE, Law IH, Blaufox AD, Perry JC, Dubin AM, Sanatani S, Collins KK. Difficulties with invasive risk stratification performed under anesthesia in pediatric Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Heart Rhythm. 2020;17:282–6.
Moore JP, Kannankeril PJ, Fish FA. Isoproterenol administration during general anesthesia for the evaluation of children with ventricular preexcitation. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2011;4:73–8.
Chubb H, Campbell RM, Motonaga KS, Ceresnak SR, Dubin AM. Management of asymptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White pattern by pediatric electrophysiologists. J Pediatr. 2019;213:88–95.
Escudero CA, Ceresnak SR, Collins KK et al. Loss of ventricular preexcitation during non invasive testing does not esclude high-risk accessory pathways: a multicenter study of WPW in children. Heart Rhythm 2020; 1–9
Sarubbi B, D’Alto M, Vergara P, Calvanese R, Mercurio B, Russo MG, Calabro R. Electrophysiological evaluation of asymptomatic ventricular pre-excitation in children and adolescents. Int J Cardiol. 2005;98:207–14.
Obeyesekere MN, Klein GJ. The asymptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White patient. Time to be more proactive? Circulation. 2014;130:805–7.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our very special thanks to Prof. J. Philip Saul for his valuable and constructive suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
Ethical approval was waived by the local Ethics Committee of University of Messina in view of the retrospective nature of the study and all the procedures being performed were part of the routine care.
Consent to participate
Not required for tracings of Fig. 1.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Alfredo Di Pino passed away on July 7th 2022, after the final revision of this manuscript. He was the one who performed the procedures, conceived the idea, wrote the manuscript. We all thank him for this tribute to Science.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Di Pino, A., Oreto, L. & Di Pino, A. Electrophysiological guided accessory-pathway ablation strategy in children with asymptomatic WPW: it may not be enough to prevent sudden cardiac death. J Interv Card Electrophysiol 66, 1125–1133 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-022-01409-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-022-01409-4