Second coupling interval of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia to distinguish malignant from benign outflow tract ventricular tachycardias.

BACKGROUND

Idiopathic ventricular tachycardia (VT) originating from the outflow tract (OT) usually is considered a benign condition. In rare cases, patients with OT-VT suffer from syncope or even sudden cardiac death. OT-VT is frequently preceded by nonsustained VT (NSVT).

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to clarify if the ECG parameters of NSVTs could differentiate malignant from benign OT-VT.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated patients without structural heart disease who had documented OT-NSVT on ECG. ECG parameters were compared between patients with syncope, aborted sudden cardiac death, or ventricular fibrillation (malignant group, n = 36) and patients without syncope (benign group, n = 40).

RESULTS

There were no differences with regard to age and gender between the malignant and benign groups. On analysis of NSVT, the first coupling interval (CI) of NSVT was comparable between the 2 groups (458 ± 87 ms vs 485 ± 95 ms, P = .212). However, the second CI of NSVT beats was significantly shorter in the malignant group (313 ± 58 ms vs 385 ± 83 ms, P < .0001). During 48-month follow-up, the benign group had a significantly lower recurrence of clinical VT than the malignant group (P = .046). The malignant group frequently had more than 1 focus of VT, whereas the benign group showed only a single focus (1.82 vs 1.09, P = .023).

CONCLUSION

The second CI of NSVT in the malignant group was significantly shorter than that of the benign OT-VT group. Careful measurement of the second CI of NSVT may help identify the malignant form of OT-VT, enabling early treatment to prevent future cardiac events.