Ventricular Tachycardia: Malignant or Benign?

Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is an uncommon disorder in children, especially in those with structurally normal hearts, and guidelines for care are not established. This retrospective, multi-center study, conducted by the Association for European Pediatric Cardiology, evaluated the clinical profile and outcome of pediatric patients with idiopathic VT. Ninety-eight patients from 13 centers were found to have either sustained or non-sustained VT of undetermined etiology while 29 patients with long QT syndrome, catecholaminergic VT, or accelerated ventricular rhythm were excluded. VT was diagnosed by 12 lead ECG or Holter. The mean age of patients was 5.4 years (0.1 to15.1) and 27 patients were 12 months or less. Fifty-three patients (54%) were male. Thirty-six patients (37%) had sustained VT and …