Background
The incidence of sudden death after cardiac valve replacement surgery
has been reported to be 0.2–2.7% (1,2). The main causes of sudden
cardiac death include acute ischemic attack, worsening of congestive
heart failure, and fatal arrhythmias (3-5).
As one of the fatal arrhythmias after aortic valve replacement (AVR),
ventricular tachycardia (VT) arising from the periaortic region has been
well-described in prior papers (6,7). Among them, Liang JJ et al.
summarized the electrophysiological characteristics of periaortic VTs
after AVR in detail (6). In their report of 10 patients with nonischemic
cardiomyopathies after AVR, VTs originated from the periaortic region in
7 (70%). They also reported that periaortic scar detected by unipolar
voltage mapping was observed in all 24 patients for whom detailed
periaortic mapping was performed.
However, the incidence, time of onset, risk factors, and prognosis of
periaortic VTs after AVR have not been investigated enough. This study
aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of periaortic VTs long
after AVR.