Background: Options for patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT) refractory to antiarrhythmic drugs and/or catheter ablation remain limited. Stereotactic radiotherapy has been described as a novel treatment option.
Methods: Seven patients with recurrent refractory VT, deemed high risk for either first time or redo invasive catheter ablation, were treated across three UK centres with non-invasive cardiac stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR). Prior catheter ablation data and non-invasive mapping were combined with cross-sectional imaging to generate radiotherapy plans with aim to deliver a single 25 Gy treatment. Shared planning and treatment guidelines and prospective peer review were used.
Results: Acute suppression of VT was seen in all seven patients. For five patients with at least 6 months follow-up, overall reduction in VT burden was 85%. No high-grade radiotherapy treatment-related side effects were documented. Three deaths (two early, one late) occurred due to heart failure.
Conclusions: Cardiac SABR showed reasonable VT suppression in a high-risk population where conventional treatment had failed.
Keywords: ablation techniques; cardiomyopathies; tachycardia; ventricular.
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