Nonsurgical transthoracic epicardial approach in patients with ventricular tachycardia and previous cardiac surgery.

Introduction: The subxyphoid pericardial mapping approach can be used to facilitate catheter ablation of postmyocardial-infarction ventricular tachycardia (post-MI VT), but the presence of dense adhesions is thought to preclude this approach in patients who have previously undergone open-chest cardiac surgery.

Aims Of The Study: This study reports the first use of a nonsurgical transthoracic epicardial approach in patients with scar-related VT and previous cardiac surgery.

Methods: Five patients with a mean age of 67 +/- 10 years, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 40 +/- 4.