Interventional Electrophysiology in Children: A Single-Center Experience

Objective: Ablation techniques of cardiac arrhythmia in children have significantly progressed in the past decade; however, the number of pediatric ablations is still significantly lower than that in adults. Accordingly, there is less information regarding the success rate and complications in this age group. Methods: All pediatric ablations conducted between March 2005 and February 2011 at Rajaie Heart Center were studied. Abolishing the arrhythmia source by the end of procedure was considered as success. Recurrences before hospital discharge and those thereafter were named early recurrence and late recurrence, respectively. Findings: A total of 125 catheter ablations were performed for 112 patients. Of them 118 (94.4%) procedures were successful. The success rate was significantly higher in the patients with atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia (AVNRT). Of 105 patients who continued follow-up program, 7 (6.7%) cases experienced recurrence; the recurrence rate was inversely dependent on the patients’ body size (P-value