Patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) are prone to develop atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Multiple factors throughout life contribute to arrhythmogenicity substrate such as (i) (longstanding) volume and/or pressure overload, (ii) scar tissue, (iii) ageing-related structural remodelling, (iv) cardiovascular risk factors and (v) tachycardia-induced remodelling. At present, it is unknown whether, and to what extent, paediatric patients with CHD have atrial or ventricular conduction disorders early in life and whether there is a correlation between duration of volume/pressure overload and extensiveness of conduction disorders. To investigate this, we initiated high-resolution intraoperative epicardial mapping in paediatric patients with CHD undergoing primary open-heart surgery.

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doi.org/10.1093/icvts/ivaa233, hdl.handle.net/1765/133341
Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
Department of Cardiology

Kharbanda, R., van Schie, M.S. (Mathijs S.), van Leeuwen, W., Taverne, Y., Houck, C., Kammeraad, J., … de Groot, N.M.S. (Natasja M S). (2021). First-in-children epicardial mapping of the heart: unravelling arrhythmogenesis in congenital heart disease. Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, 32(1), 137–140. doi:10.1093/icvts/ivaa233