The wall of unintended consequences: is the main benefit of posterior LA wall isolation simply more durable pulmonary vein isolation?Paul C. Zei, MD PhD FHRSDepartment of MedicineBrigham and Women’s HospitalHarvard Medical SchoolBoston, MAFunding: NoneConflict of Interest: None

Lamin Cardiomyopathy (LC) is associated with refractory ventricular arrhythmias. Catheter ablation success rate is low due to presence of multiple circuits and intramural substrate. We present a LC case presented with electrical storm. During catheter ablation, arrhythmia was easily inducible but activation mapping, including full epicardial and endocardial mapping, failed to demonstrate the full tachycardia cycle length (70% only) suggesting intramural activation. Critical isthmus was not identified even with successful concealed entrainment on both Endo/epicardial surfaces. This case shows that even combined endocardial and epicardial catheter approach can be ineffective in identifying the full arrhythmogenic substrate in LC.

Introduction: Septal mass reduction is beneficial for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) patients with severe left ventricular outflow (LVOT) gradient and symptoms, with surgical myectomy or alcohol septal ablation (ASA) currently recommended in selected patients. Radiofrequency (RF) ablation of hypertrophied septum has been published as a novel method to alleviate LVOT obstruction in small populations. This study aims to investigate factors influencing clinical outcomes of radiofrequency septum ablation. Methods and results: In this study, twenty patients with HOCM who underwent endocardial ablation were included. Echocardiography and cardiac MRI (CMR) data was collected and analyzed pre- and (or) post- procedure. Nineteen patients underwent ablation successfully, while ablation was aborted in one patient with prior RBBB due to transient complete atrioventricular block (AVB). After six months of follow-up, NYHA heart functional class improved from III (2 - 3) to II (1 - 2) (p < 0.001), and resting LVOT gradient was significantly reduced (87.6 ± 29.5 mmHg vs. 48.1 ± 29.7, p < 0.001). LVOT gradient reduction was significantly higher in patients with limited basal septal hypertrophy (60.9 ± 8.3 vs. 27.9 ± 7.1, p = 0.01), shorter anterior mitral leaflet (56.1 ± 6.4 vs. 20.4 ± 5.0, p<0.01) and normally positioned papillary muscle (36.9 ± 7.1 vs. 75.0 ± 6.3, p <0.05). Conclusions: Endocardial septal ablation appears to be a safe and effective procedure for alleviating LVOT gradient in patients with HOCM, especially in those with limited basal septal hypertrophy, shorter anterior mitral leaflet and normal positioned papillary muscle.