ABSTRACT
Objectives:
This study sought to describe our institutional experience of repeated percutaneous
stellate ganglion blockade (R-SGB) as a
treatment option for
drug-refractory electrical storm in
patients with nonischemic
cardiomyopathy (NICM).
Methods:
This prospective
observational study included 8 consecutive NICM
patients who had
drug-refractory electrical storm and underwent R-SGB between June 1, 2021 and January 31, 2022.
Lidocaine (5 ml, 1%) was injected in the vicinity of the left
stellate ganglion under the guidance of ultrasound, once per day for 7 days. Data including clinical characteristics, immediate and long-term outcomes, and
procedure related
complications were collected.
Results:
The mean age was (51.5±13.6) years. All
patients were
male. 5
patients were diagnosed as
dilated cardiomyopathy, 2
patients as
arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and 1
patient as
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The left
ventricular ejection fraction was 37.8%±6.6%. After the
treatment of R-SGB, 6 (75%)
patients were free of electrical storm. 24 hours
Holter monitoring showed significant reduction in
ventricular tachycardia (VT) episodes from 43.0 (13.3, 276.3) to 1.0 (0.3, 34.0) on the first day following R-SGB (P<0.05) and 0.5 (0.0, 19.3) after whole R-SGB process (P<0.05). There were no
procedure-related major
complications. The mean follow-up was (4.8±1.1) months, and the median
time of recurrent VT was 2 months.
Conclusion:
Minimally invasive R-SGB is a safe and effective
method to treat electrical storm in
patients with NICM.