Retrograde coronary venous ethanol ablation for ventricular tachycardia in a patient with inaccessible substrate due to previous surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Catheter-based radiofrequency (RF) ablation is generally regarded as the standard approach for patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT) refractory to antiarrhythmic drug therapy and may be considered as a first-line approach when there is a preference to avoid these agents. Patients with a history of cardiac surgery may have VT substrate inaccessible to catheter ablation due to intervening prosthetic materials or scar.

METHODS AND RESULTS: This article describes a 55-year-old patient with a history of surgically repaired subvalvular aortic stenosis and subsequent valve-sparing root replacement who presented with sustained VT. After RF ablation failed due to VT substrate "guarded" by graft material, retrograde coronary venous ethanol ablation (RCVEA) was employed to successfully treat the clinical VT.

CONCLUSION: RCVEA ablation can be useful for treating VT when conventional ablation is limited by inaccessible substrate due to prior cardiac surgery.