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The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 58, 1287-1290, Copyright © 1994 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

ARTICLES

Reflections on definitive surgical treatment of postinfarction ventricular tachycardia

JG Selle
Carolinas Heart Institute, Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, North Carolina.

The past 15 years have witnessed a substantial commitment to the understanding and surgical cure of postinfarction ventricular tachycardia, and the results of treatment have steadily improved. However, outside influences have had a negative impact on the use of this modality. With the widespread availability of implantable defibrillators, this has become an attractive alternative therapy to the sometimes difficult definitive surgical treatment. Meanwhile, early thrombolytic therapy for the management of evolving myocardial infarctions has been found to create a postinfarction electrical substrate that does not appear to be arrhythmogenic. As a result, clinical efforts to develop and refine definitive ventricular tachycardia surgical treatments have all but ceased. The intent of this article is to review the events that took place in this apparently transient era.