UC Irvine

Ventricular premature beats originating from the right ventricular outflow tract can have myocardial extensions to the pulmonary valve and pulmonary artery. Treatment may consist of catheter ablation combined with the use of three-dimensional mapping to determine the exact location of ectopy. The location of ectopy relative to the pulmonary valve may be hard to ascertain. Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) is a noninvasive approach by which one can determine the relationship of the pulmonary valve relative to the ablation catheter prior to ablation. ICE has achieved increasing popularity during the ablation of other arrhythmias such as tricuspid valve arrhythmias and has been shown to be helpful in guiding catheter placement prior to ablation. The additional information gained from deploying ICE may ensure more precise ablation, prevent theoretical damage to the pulmonary valve, and alleviate the need for a repeat procedure. Here, we present a case involving the use of ICE during a pediatric patients second ablation procedure to precisely determine the location of ectopy of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia originating from the distal pulmonary valve.