Preventive ventricular tachycardia ablation in patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy: Meta-analysis of randomised trials

Catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT) aims to treat the underlying arrhythmia substrate to prevent ICD therapies. The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the safety and efficacy of VT ablation prior to or at the time of secondary prevention ICD implantation in patients with coronary artery disease, as compared with deferred VT ablation. Based on a systematic literature search, three randomised trials were considered eligible for inclusion in this analysis, and data on the number of patients with appropriate ICD shocks, appropriate ICD therapy, arrhythmic storm, death and major complications were extracted from each study. On pooled analysis, there was a significant reduction of appropriate ICD shocks (OR 2.58; 95% CI [1.54-4.34]; p