Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Critical Care Medicine

Background: Wide QRS complex tachycardia (WCT) is a relatively common, important & may be life threatening situation in medical practice. Diagnosis of its cause is vital in both acute & chronic management. ECG diagnosis remains the cornerstone in management of WCT especially in emergency & critical care sittings. However, it's not always easy or accurate. Invasive Electrophysiological Testing provides an effective & safe method for both diagnosis & treatment of the cause of many cases of wide complex tachycardia. Aim: To assess the prevalence of different types of WCT in patients who had undergone electrophysiological testing & ablation in the critical care department , Cairo University in a five years period (2011-2015) & to study the outcome of catheter ablation in different types of WCT. Methods:A retrospective cohort study conducted on patients who had undergone electrophysiological study +/-catheter ablation for wide complex tachycardia in 5-year duration (From Jan. 2011 to Dec. 2015) at the critical care department, Cairo University. Results:We studied 147 patients, the mean age was 34.71±15.21 years, 86.4% had no associating systemic diseases, and 83.7% had no history of cardiac diseases.The EP diagnosis was preexistedWCT in 52.38%, VT 42.85% & SVT-A in 4.1% of studied cases.The overall success rate for catheter ablation of arrhythmia substrates was (87.4%), success rate was highest for ablation of SVT-A (100%), followed by preexcited wide complex tachycardia (92%) while it was 80% for ablation of VT

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