Abstract
Defibrillation and synchronized cardioversion are capable of summarily stopping ventricular fibrillation (VF) and ventricular tachycardia (VT). However, these interventions developed in the twentieth century did not address the “substrate,” nor could they prevent VT recurrence and sudden cardiac death (SCD). In this chapter the author reviews the history of deciphering the mechanisms of VT in the animal model and in man, including bundle-branch-reentry, and the pioneers behind these discoveries that ultimately resulted in identifying the pathophysiology of the substrate of VT in remote infarcts leading to its surgical treatment. The author also discusses the impact of revascularization (thrombolysis and primary stenting) on the post-infarct substrate, as well as the current status of surgical resection of the VT substrate.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Wellens HJJ, et al. Electrical stimulation of the heart in patients with ventricular tachycardia. Circulation. 1972;38:216–26.
Wellens HJJ, Düren DR, Lie KJ, et al. Observations on mechanisms of ventricular tachycardia in man. Circulation. 1976;54:237–44.
Wellens HJJ, Bär FWHM, Lie KJ, et al. Effect of procainamide, propranolol and verapamil on mechanism of tachycardia in patients with chronic recurrent ventricular tachycardia. Am J Cardiol. 1977;40:579–85.
Wellens HJJ, Bär FWHM, Vanagt EJDM, Brugada P. Medical treatment of ventricular tachycardia: considerations in the selection of patients for surgical treatment. Am J Cardiol. 1982;40:186–93.
Akhtar M, Damato AN, Batsford WP, Ruskin JN, Ogunkelu JB, Vargas G. Demonstration of re-entry within the His-Purkinje system in man. Circulation. 1974;50:1150–62.
Reddy CP, Damato A, Akhtar M, Dhatt MS, Gomes JAC, et al. Effect of procainamide on reentry within the His-Purkinje system in man. Am J Cardiol. 1977;40:957–64.
Gomes JAC, Dhatt MS, Akhtar M, Carambas C, Rubenson D, Damato AN. The effects of digitalis on ventricular myocardial and His-Purkinje refractoriness and reentry in man. Am J Cardiol. 1978;42:931–8.
Guerot C, Valere PE, Castillo-Fenoy A, et al. Tachycardia by branch-to-branch reentry. Arch Mal Coeur Vaiss. 1974;67:1–11.
Reddy CP, Slack JD. Recurrent sustained ventricular tachycardia: report of a case with His-bundle branches reentry as the mechanism. Eur J Cardiol. 1980;11:23–31. [PubMed].
Welch WJ, Strasberg B, Coelho A, et al. Sustained macroreentrant ventricular tachycardia. Am Heart J. 1982;104:166–9. [PubMed].
Lloyd EA, Zipes DP, Heger JJ, et al. Sustained ventricular tachycardia due to bundle branch reentry. Am Heart J. 1982;104:1095–7. [PubMed].
Touboul P, Kirkorian G, Atallah G, et al. Bundle branch reentry: a possible mechanism of ventricular tachycardia. Circulation. 1983;67:674–80. [PubMed].
Caceres J, Jazayeri M, McKinnie J, et al. Sustained bundle branch reentry as a mechanism of clinical tachycardia. Circulation. 1989;79:256–70.
Josephson ME, Horowitz LN, Farshidi A. Continuous local electrical activity. A mechanism of recurrent ventricular tachycardia. Circulation. 1978;57:659–65.
Heart rhythms—Rhythms in history: interview with Mark E. Josephson.
Janse MJ, Van Capelle FJL, Morsink H, et al. Flow of “injury” current and patterns of excitation during early ventricular arrhythmias in acute regional myocardial ischemia in isolated porcine and canine hearts. Circ Res. 1980;47:151.
Wit AL, Allessie MA, Bonke FIM, et al. Electrophysiological mapping to determine the mechanism of experimental ventricular tachycardia initiated by premature impulses. Experimental approach and initial results demonstrating reentrant excitation. Am J Cardiol. 1982;49:166–85.
Mehra R, Zeiler RH, Gough WB, El-Sherif A. Reentrant ventricular arrhythmias in the late myocardial infarction period 9. Electrophysiologic-anatomic correlation of reentrant circuits. Circulation. 1983;67:11–24.
El-Sherif N, Gough WB, Zeiler RH, Hariman R. Reentrant ventricular arrhythmias in the late myocardial infraction period. 12. Spontaneous versus induced reentry and intramural versus epicardial circuits. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1985;6:124–32.
Downar E, Harris L, Mickleborough LL, et al. Endicardial mapping of ventricular tachycardia in the intact human ventricle: evidence for reentrant mechanisms. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1988;11:783–91.
Downar E, Saito J, Doig JC, et al. Endocardial mapping of ventricular tachycardia in the intact human ventricle. III. Evidence of multiuse reentry with spontaneous and induced block in portions of reentrant path complex. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1995;25:1591–600.
Anter E, Tschabrunn CM, Buxton AE, Josephson ME. High-resolution mapping of postinfarction reentrant ventricular tachycardia. Circulation. 2016;134:314–27.
Hoffman BF, Rosen MR. Cellular mechanisms for cardiac arrhythmias. Circ Res. 1981;49:1–15.
El-Sherif N, Zeiler RH, Gough WB, Zeiler RH. Ventricular activation patterns of spontaneous and induced ventricular rhythms in canine one day old myocardial infarction. Evidence for focal and reentrant mechanisms. Circ Res. 1982;51:152–66.
El-Sherif N, Craelius W, Boutjdir M, Gough WB. Early afterdepolarizations and arrhythmogenesis. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 1990;2:145–60.
Mason JW, Stinson EB, Winkle RA, et al. Relative efficacy of blind left ventricular aneurysm resection for the treatment of recurrent ventricular tachycardia. Am J Cardiol. 1982;40:241–8.
Guiraudon G, Fontaine G, Frank R, et al. Encircling endocardial ventriculotomy: a new surgical treatment for life-threatening ventricular tachvcardias resistant to medical treatment following myocardial infarction. Ann Thorac Surg. 1978;26:438–44.
Josephson ME, Harken AH, Horowitz LN. Endocardial excision: a new surgical technique for the treatment of recurrent ventricular tachycardia. Circulation. 1979;60:1430–9.
Horowitz LN, Harken AH, Kastor JA, Josephson ME. Ventricular resection guided by epicardial and endocardial mapping for treatment of recurrent ventricular tachycardia. N Engl J Med. 1980;302:589–93.
Gomes JA, Winters SL, Ergin A, et al. Clinical and electrophysiologic determinants, treatment and survival of patients with sustained malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias occurring late after myocardial infarction. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1991;17(2):320–6.
Sosa E, Scanavacca M, d’Avila A, et al. A new technique to perform epicardial mapping in the electrophysiology laboratory. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 1996;7(6):531–6. [PubMed].
Sosa E, Scanavacca M, D’Avila A, et al. Radiofrequency catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia guided by nonsurgical epicardial mapping in chronic chagasic heart disease. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol. 1999;22:128–30. [PubMed].
Scanavacca M. Epicardial ablation for ventricular tachycardia in chronic chagas heart disease. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2014;102(6):524–8.
Soejima K, Stevenson WG, Sapp JL, Selwyn AP, Gregory C, Epstein LM. Endocardial and epicardial radiofrequency ablation of ventricular tachycardia associated with dilated cardiomyopathy. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2004;43:1834–42.
Cano O, Hutchinson M, Lin D, Garcia F, Zado E, Bala R, Riley M, Cooper J, Dixit S, Gerstenfeld E, Callans D, Marchlinski FE. Electroanatomic substrate and ablation outcome for suspected epicardial ventricular tachycardia in left ventricular nonischemic cardiomyopathy. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2009;54:799–808.
Sarkozy A, Tokuda M, Tedrow UB, et al. Epicardial ablation of ventricular tachycardia in ischemic heart disease. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2013;6:1115–22.
Marcus NH, Falcone RA, Harken AH, et al. Body surface late potentials: effects of endocardial resection in patients with ventricular tachycardia. Circulation. 1984;70:632–7.
Breithard G, Seipel L, Ostermeyer L, et al. Effects of antiarrhythmic surgery on late ventricular potentials recorded by precordial signal averaging in patients with ventricular tachycardia. Am Heart J. 1982;104:996–1003.
Denniss AR, Johnson DC, Richards DA, et al. Effect of excision of ventricular myocardium on delayed potentials detected by the signal averaged electrocardiogram in patients with ventricular tachycardia. Am J Cardiol. 1987;59:591–5.
Fenoglio JJ Jr, Duc T, Harken AH, et al. Recurrent sustained ventricular tachycardia: structure and ultrastructure of subendocardial regions in which tachycardia originates. Circulation. 1983;68:518–33.
De Bakker JMT, van Capelle FJL, Janse MJ, et al. Reentry as a cause of ventricular tachycardia in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease: electrophysiologic and anatomic correlation. Circulation. 1988;77:589–606.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gomes, J.A. (2020). The Substrate of Ventricular Tachycardia. In: Heart Rhythm Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45066-3_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45066-3_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-45065-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-45066-3
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)