Ventricular tachycardia inducibility after radiofrequency ablation affects the outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators: The role of left ventricular function.

PURPOSE: We hypothesized that inducibility of the VT responsible for ICD therapies at the end of RFCA, would also be associated with a differential risk, depending on left ventricular function. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 66 patients with previous myocardial infarction and with ICD who also underwent RFCA for recurrent refractory VTs. RESULTS: During the follow-up only 19 patients (29%) showed VTs. Among patients with ejection fraction (EF) 35% and <50%, no recurrent VT was any longer detected in the nine patients in whom the VT was not inducible, while VT recurrences still continued only in the eight patients in whom it was. Finally, all the 24 patients with EF >or=50% did not show any recurrent VT. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirm the role of RFCA in reducing ICD therapies and also place RFCA in the overall clinical management of recurrent post infarction VTs according to the left ventricular function.