Surgical management of refractory supraventricular tachycardia in infants and children

Sixty-seven children underwent attempted surgical correction of refractory supraventricular arrhythmias using a combination of intraoperative electrophysiologic mapping followed by surgical division or cryoablation of an aberrant conduction pathway or atrial ectopic focus. The patients ranged in age from 4 months to 18 years (mean 11.4 years).Fifty-five patients (82%) had an abnormal conduction pathway crossing the atrioventricular junction (Kent bundle). Thirty-six (65%) of these 55 patients had classic Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome with a delta wave of pre-excitation on the surface electrocardiogram. Nineteen (35%), however, demonstrated only retrograde conduction across the Kent bundle and had a normal surface electrocardiogram when tachycardia was not present. Kent bundles were isolated to the following locations: right anterior or lateral in 19 (34.5%), left posterior or lateral in 22 (40%), posteroseptal in 10 (18%), anteroseptal in 2 (4%) and both right and left in 2 (4%). Follow-up evaluation of as long as 8 years (mean 34.9 months) has shown seven immediate failures and one late recurrence of arrhythmia (14.5%). Recent refinements in technique and the use of cryoablation for septal aberrant pathways have improved these results. There have been two failures (8%) in the last 25 attempts. Twelve patients underwent surgery for an atrial ectopic focus by the following techniques: cryoablation in seven patients, excision in one patient and both excision and cryoablation in four patients. At a mean follow-up of 16.6 months, there was one late recurrence in the group with an atrial ectopic focus.Children with refractory supraventricular tachycardia, even in the absence of pre-excitation on the electrocardiogram should undergo complete electrophysiologic study to elucidate the mechanism of tachycardia. Surgery for supraventricular tachycardia can be performed safely in infants and children and offers predictable results and the opportunity to cure the tachycardia syndrome