[Treatment of arrhythmias associated with congenital heart disease using transcatheter ablation].

Unlabelled: Rhythm disturbances are common long after surgical repair of congenital heart disease. These arrhythmias caused by the progression of the disease itself, however, a significant proportion is a result of the presence of surgical scar. Although interventional electrophysiology procedures are complex and encounter difficulties, pharmacological therapy is often very disappointing.

Aim And Methods: In the present study we aimed to describe our experience obtained between 2004 and 2006 in patients undergoing transcatheter ablation long after surgery for congenital heart disease.

Results: During this period 26 patients underwent catheter ablation. The procedure was successful in 24 out of the 26 patients (92%). Three patients required redo ablations due to arrhythmia recurrences (11%). There were no major complications related to the intervention. In four patients minor complications occurred (small hematomas).

Conclusions: Our descriptive data indicate that transcatheter ablation for arrhythmias after surgery for congenital heart disease is a effective safe and more importantly curative procedure. It is associated with reasonable success rate, low complication rate, but slightly higher recurrence rate as compared to the classical electrophysiological interventions.