Post-Ablation cardiac Magnetic resonance to assess Ventricular Tachycardia recurrence (PAM-VT study)

Aims Conducting channels (CCs) detected by late gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance (LGE-CMR) are related to ventricular tachycardia (VT). The aim of this work was to study the ability of post-ablation LGE-CMR to evaluate ablation lesions.Methods and results This is a prospective study of consecutive patients referred for a scar-related VT ablation. LGE-CMR was performed 6-12 months prior to ablation and 3-6 months after ablation. Scar characteristics of pre-and post-ablation LGE-CMR were compared. During the study period (March 2019-April 2021), 61 consecutive patients underwent scar-related VT ablation after LGE-CMR. Overall, 12 patients were excluded (4 had poor-quality LGE-CMR, 2 died before post-ablation LGE-CMR, and 6 underwent post-ablation LGE-CMR 12 months after ablation). Finally, 49 patients (age: 65.5 +/- 9.8 years, 97.9% male, left ventricular ejection fraction: 34.8 +/- 10.4%, 87.7% ischaemic cardiomyopathy) were included. Post-ablation LGE-CMR showed a decrease in the number (3.34 +/- 1.03 vs. 1.6 +/- 0.2; P < 0.0001) and mass (8.45 +/- 1.3 vs. 3.5 +/- 0.6 g; P < 0.001) of CCs. Arrhythmogenic CCs disappeared in 74.4% of patients. Dark core was detected in 75.5% of patients, and its presence was not related to CC reduction (52.2 +/- 7.4% vs. 40.8 +/- 10.6%, P = 0.57). VT recurrence after one year follow-up was 16.3%. The presence of two or more channels in the post-ablation LGE-CMR was a predictor of VT recurrence (31.82% vs. 0%, P = 0.0038) with a sensibility of 100% and specificity of 61% (area under the curve 0.82). In the same line, a reduction of CCs < 55% had sensibility of 100% and specificity of 61% (area under the curve 0.83) to predict VT recurrence.Conclusion Post-ablation LGE-CMR is feasible, and a reduction in the number of CCs is related with lower risk of VT recurrence. The dark core was not present in all patients. A decrease in VT substrate was also observed in patients without a dark core area in the post-ablation LGE-CMR.

Automated summary

The study aimed to evaluate the ability of post-ablation late gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance (LGE-CMR) to assess ablation lesions. It was found that post-ablation LGE-CMR can reduce the number and mass of conducting channels (CCs) and is associated with a lower risk of ventricular tachycardia (VT) recurrence.