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Ann Thorac Surg 2001;71:1547-1552
© 2001 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
a Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Accepted for publication January 19, 2001.
Address reprint requests to Dr Chauvaud, Département de Chirurgie Cardio-Vasculaire, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, 20, rue Leblanc, 75015 Paris, France
e-mail: sylvain.chauvaud{at}egp.ap-hop-paris.fr
| Abstract |
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Methods. Forty-five patients with Ebsteins anomaly and arrhythmias were studied. Mean age was 33 ± 15 years. Twenty-four patients (53%) had paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, 12 (27%) had atrial fibrillation or flutter, 8 (18%) had ventricular preexcitation (Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome), and 1 (2%) had a nonsustained ventricular tachycardia. Surgical technique included detachment of the tricuspid anterior leaflet and suture on the atrioventricular annulus associated with right ventricular longitudinal plication.
Results. There were four hospital deaths (9%). A pacemaker was implanted early after operation in 5 patients (11%). During a mean follow-up of 57 ± 50 months (range, 4 to 226 months), there were six additional deaths, three of which were sudden. Two patients were lost to follow-up. Of the 33 surviving patients, 8 (24%) continued to have symptomatic arrhythmias, and 15 (45%) were in permanent sinus rhythm. Of the 24 patients with preoperative paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia and the 12 with atrial fibrillation or flutter preoperatively, 9 and 2 of the survivors, respectively, have had no further episodes of arrhythmia. The incidence of arrhythmia with or without symptoms was reduced to 39% (13/33) of the surviving patients.
Conclusions. Arrhythmia is not totally abolished after operation. However, patients with Ebsteins anomaly and arrhythmia show substantial improvement after conservative surgical intervention.
| Introduction |
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Different surgical techniques have been used to repair the anomaly, but the results in regard to arrhythmias are uncertain [59]. The present study reports our experience in a consecutive series of patients referred for surgical repair of Ebsteins anomaly, with particular emphasis on patients with documented preoperative arrhythmias. The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether the technique of Carpentier and associates [10] not only improves the underlying structural and hemodynamics problems but also reduces the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias.
| Material and methods |
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Preoperative electrophysiologic assessment was carried out in only 12 patients. Indications were palpitations or electrocardiographic evidence of ventricular preexcitation. At the time of electrophysiologic study, inducible orthodromic reciprocating tachycardia was found in 6 patients, 2 of whom had inducible sustained atrial flutter or fibrillation. The accessory AV connections were located in the right posteroseptal or lateral free wall in all 12 patients. One patient (patient 2) had radiofrequency ablation preoperatively.
The arrhythmias documented preoperatively in the 45 patients were as follows: paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia in 24, permanent atrial fibrillation or flutter in 12, ventricular preexcitation (WPW syndrome) in 8, and nonsustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia in 1. The 45 patients with a cardiac arrhythmia were significantly older than the 53 patients who did not have symptoms or a documented arrhythmia (mean age, 33 years versus 21 years; p < 0.01). There were no other significant differences in preoperative functional or hemodynamic data between patients with and patients without symptoms of preoperative arrhythmia (Table 1).
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The indications for operation were cyanosis, severe symptoms, severe tricuspid regurgitation, or arrhythmias. Four patients who had mild tricuspid regurgitation and were in New York Heart Association functional class I or II underwent surgical repair for symptoms of arrhythmia associated with cyanosis (3 patients) or after an unsuccessful noninvasive attempt to oblate the accessory pathways (1 patient).
Operative technique
The operative technique has been described in detail [10, 11]. Operation was undertaken using cardiopulmonary bypass at 28°C. The tricuspid valve was approached through a right atriotomy. The corrective procedure as used at Hôpital Broussais has four basic steps, and the goals are to restore normal function to the tricuspid valve and to incorporate the inlet of the right ventricle in the repair. The anterosuperior leaflet is temporarily detached, and the restrictive trabeculations and cords are divided to restore normal motion (Fig 1). The anterolateral papillary muscle is fully mobilized by detaching the muscular bands, which were inserted into the lateral wall of the right ventricle. The atrialized right ventricle is plicated longitudinally, a measure achieving a reduction in the diameter of the tricuspid annulus. The anterosuperior leaflet is rotated in a clockwise direction and reattached to the newly reduced annulus. In adult patients, the annulus is reinforced with a Carpentier prosthetic ring.
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Follow-up data were collected at consultations every 6 months, and a 12-lead electrocardiogram was obtained. When clinical symptoms were present or when electrocardiographic abnormalities persisted, a 24-hour recording was made (Holter monitoring).
Statistical analysis
Data are expressed as the mean ± the standard deviation. Differences between preoperative and postoperative data were analyzed using
2 contingency tables for discrete variables and Students t test for continuous variables. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate actuarial survival. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.
| Results |
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Postoperative arrhythmias
In the early postoperative period, 42% (17 of 41) of the patients were in permanent sinus rhythm, and only 7 patients (17%) had supraventricular tachyarrhythmia (Table 2). Atrial fibrillation was seen in 8 patients (19.5%). Implantation of a pacemaker to treat AV dissociation was necessary in 5 patients (12%). The other 3 patients with junctional rhythm immediately after operation regained sinus rhythm with normal AV conduction during the hospital stay. The surgical procedure significantly reduced the incidence of early postoperative arrhythmias: sinus rhythm was present in 17 of the 41 early survivors.
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The 12 patients with preoperative atrial fibrillation were followed up for a mean 74 ± 68 months. There were no hospital deaths in this group, and 1 patient was lost to follow-up. When last seen, 3 were in permanent sinus rhythm. Of the remaining 8 patients, 3 died while on a regimen of digoxin therapy (patients 26, 32, and 43), 1 had development of AV block with subsequent pacemaker implantation, and 3 continued to have chronic atrial fibrillation. One patient had had a pacemaker implanted early postoperatively.
The 8 patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome were followed up for a mean of 63 ± 44 months. 2 were in sinus rhythm. Of the remaining 6 patients, 1 died 56 months after operation (patient 3), 2 had development of AV block immediately after operation and had a pacemaker implanted (patients 24 and 31), and 3 continued to have WPW, but only 1 has symptoms requiring medications. The patient with preoperative ventricular arrhythmias was free from symptomatic tachycardia at 99 months of follow-up (patient 38).
Quality of life
The number of patients on a regimen of antiarrhythmic therapy decreased significantly from 100% (45 patients) preoperatively to 44% (18 of 41 patients) postoperatively and to 24% (8 of 33 patients) during follow-up (p < 0.01). Seven patients underwent treatment, 2 with SVT, 4 with AF, and 1 with WPW. Two patients with persistent paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardias were on a regimen of propranolol hydrochloride, and 4 patients in atrial fibrillation continued therapy with digoxin and an anticoagulant. The patient with WPW (patient 8) who continued to experience paroxysmal tachycardia was considerably less symptomatic than preoperatively on a regimen of propafenone hydrochloride therapy. New York Heart Association functional status improved significantly during follow-up. In conclusion, of 45 patients with preoperative documented arrhythmias, only 13 patients (39% of the 33 patients available for follow-up) had persisting arrhythmia.
| Comment |
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The preponderance of right posterior and right posteroseptal accessory pathways [14, 1619] and the morphological abnormalities of the atrialized ventricle [13] could explain the arrhythmogenic role of this chamber. Thus, we suggest that plication of the right atrialized ventricle permits the interruption of accessory pathways across this region, and, on the other hand, excludes this chamber that causes arrhythmogenic circuits or foci [20].
Our hypothesis is that by means of muscular strands, accessory pathways cross the tricuspid annulus in the place where the anterosuperior leaflet is located. This leaflet, as reported by Anderson and coauthors [1], is always abnormal anatomically. Usually, "it is large and has abnormal fibrous strands running through it. These strands sometimes become muscularized, and attach the leaflet at the right ventricle wall". In some hearts the attachment is by means of these abnormal muscularized chordae, whereas in others the attachment is continuous and can incorporate the anterolateral papillary muscle. The tricuspid valve is "muscularized" in Ebsteins anomaly, and in 11 of our patients during operation, it was noticed in the presence of continuous muscular bands. Therefore, detachment of the anterosuperior leaflet and incision of all the muscular trabeculations provide not only leaflet mobilization, but also interruption of accessory pathways.
The goals of the various surgical procedures are to reduce the structural and functional anomaly. However, the major unsolved problem is the high incidence of atrial arrhythmias, which exist preoperatively and postoperatively [21]. In a study of cardiac arrhythmias in patients undergoing surgical repair of Ebsteins anomaly, Oh and associates [3] found that 33% of patients with preoperative arrhythmias continued to have symptomatic tachycardia after operation. For this reason, in patients with a "wide complex," Danielson and co-workers [5] reported prophylactic intravenous administration of lidocaine hydrochloride 48 hours before operation and use of procainamide hydrochloride for 3 months postoperatively once oral intake has begun. In no patient in our series did we use the maze procedure because of the lack of published data favoring a reduction in atrial fibrillation in right-sided lesions. Map-directed ablation of accessory pathways is time-consuming, and according to the Mayo clinic experience [5], the incidence of recurrent rhythmic disturbances is still a problem with this procedure.
With our technique, we were able to reestablish sinus rhythm in about 30% of patients with preoperative cardiac arrhythmias, and fewer than one sixth continued to have symptomatic tachycardias after operation. There was a more marked decrease in the occurrence of supraventricular tachycardia compared with atrial fibrillation. This suggests that the etiology of supraventricular tachycardia in many of these patients may be related more to the presence of the accessory pathways than to primary or secondary myocardial abnormalities seen with Ebsteins anomaly. These observations correlate with those in previous reports [17, 22] in which the authors observed that patients in atrial fibrillation with surgical ablation of the accessory pathways in Ebsteins anomaly had a twofold to threefold increased risk of a new atrial fibrillation developing postoperatively compared with patients without Ebsteins anomaly. This fact demonstrates that the etiology of atrial fibrillation in patients with Ebsteins anomaly is due overall to right atrial enlargement. In summary, interruption of accessory pathways, whatever the technique used, is not efficient when atrial fibrillation is present. On the basis of the good results of conservative surgical procedures, we advise discussion about an operation before the onset of atrial enlargement.
The significant decreases in the frequency and severity of arrhythmias, in the need of antiarrhythmic drugs, and in activity limitations as demonstrated by a better New York Heart Association class after operation appear to have greatly improved the quality of life of patients with Ebsteins anomaly. Our study does have limitations. It is a retrospective study, and it was not possible to demonstrate electrophysiologically the presence of accessory pathways in the anterior leaflet of the tricuspid valve. Nevertheless, our study reveals that arrhythmia can be found in nearly 1 of every 2 Ebsteins patients referred for surgical correction. Detachment of the anterosuperior leaflet and plication of the right ventricular chamber reduce the incidence of postoperative arrhythmias. The technique is not as effective for arrhythmias secondary to atrial enlargement; therefore, we suggest the operation be performed earlier before atrial enlargement occurs.
| References |
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