Publications by authors named "Russell R Heath"
Background: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) remains the cornerstone of atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation, but its efficacy in patients with persistent AF (PersAF) remains suboptimal compared with those with paroxysmal AF.
Objective: This study investigated the outcomes of cryoballoon PVI with concomitant "direct" posterior wall isolation (PWI) vs PVI alone in patients with symptomatic PersAF.
Methods: The PIVoTAL IDE was a prospective, multicenter trial (NCT04505163) that randomized patients with symptomatic antiarrhythmic drug-refractory PersAF to cryoballoon PVI vs PVI + PWI.
Safety of ventricular tachycardia ablation in clinical practice: findings from 9699 hospital discharge records.
Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol
April 2015
Background: Outcomes of ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation have been described in clinical trials and single-center studies. We assessed the safety of VT ablation in clinical practice.
Methods And Results: Using administrative hospitalization data between 1994 and 2011, we identified hospitalizations with primary diagnosis of VT (International Classification of Diseases-9 Clinical Modification code: 427.
Endocardial electrogram characteristics of epicardial ventricular arrhythmias.
J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol
June 2013
Article Synopsis
- Most ventricular arrhythmias can be treated with endocardial approaches, but some require epicardial mapping and ablation, which can be challenging to identify accurately from surface electrocardiograms.
- A study analyzed electrogram data from patients who had successful endo and epi mapping for ventricular arrhythmias, identifying key indicators that suggest a need for epicardial intervention.
- The findings highlight three main characteristics: a large area of diffusely early activation, a specific sequence of EGM components, and the inability to capture a far-field EGM, all pointing towards the necessity of epicardial ablation for effective treatment.
Use of stored implanted cardiac defibrillator electrograms in catheter ablation of ventricular fibrillation.
Pacing Clin Electrophysiol
January 2013
Article Synopsis
- Ventricular fibrillation (VF) can be treated by identifying and ablating its triggering sources, often found in the Purkinje network or right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT), without needing to induce VF or premature ventricular complexes (PVC).
- A study involving 11 patients with frequent VF episodes used stored electrograms from implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) to locate and successfully ablate VF triggers, targeting areas like the left posterior and anterior fascicles and the RVOT.
- All procedures were successful, with no complications, leading to 10 out of 11 patients being free of VF after about 288 days of follow-up, indicating effective short-term outcomes of this ablation strategy.