[The electrophysiological diagnosis and surgical treatment of atrial flutter].

From 1982 to the late 1990 thirty-three patients with tachysystolic atrial fibrillation refractory to preventive antiarrhythmic therapy were examined and operated on. Invasive electrophysiological investigation was a must in the preoperative examination. The "entrainment" and "adaptation" effects of the refractory periods of different parts of the atria were estimated depending on the duration of the basic cycle of pacing.

[Surgical treatment of supraventricular tachyarrhythmias using laser].

Much importance is attached lately to the use of lasers in surgical treatment of tachyarrhythmias. The advantages of the laser radiation are as follows: the possibility of using it on a contracting heart, its exact and selective effect, infliction of even damages in preservation of the structure, reduction of damage to the myocardium as a whole. At the Bakulev Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery, USSR AMS, 52 operations were carried out in the management of supraventricular tachyarrhythmias by laser radiation: 27 operations for laser isolation of the atrioventricular node, 15 operations for laser isolation of the atria and bases of the pulmonary veins (11 in combination with laser isolation of the atrioventricular node), 3 operations for ablation of ectopic foci in the atria and ventricles, 4 operations for ablation of the bundle of His, and 3 operations for removal of Maheim's nodoventricular tract.

[Evaluation of the results of epicardial electric pulse destruction of the bundle of Kent: immediate and late results].

The authors assessed the outcomes of an epicardial electrical pulse destructive operation on Kent's bundle in 170 patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. The operation consisted in generating an electrical stimuli train of a power of 50-250 J along the fatty tenial margin of the atrioventricular sulcus, which damaged or isolated Kent's bundle. By refining the indications for application of the method, the authors succeeded in achieving 98% efficacy in abolishing the Kent bundle conduction in the absence of deaths in the latter group of patients.

[Results of surgical treatment of ventricular tachycardia].

Surgical treatment is the method of choice in patients with ventricular tachycardia refractive to drug therapy. Fifty-six patients with ventricular tachycardia of various genesis were examined and separated into two groups according to the main heart disease. Group 1 was formed of patients with ischemic heart disease.