Catheter ablation is a treatment modality which has been increasingly used for cardiac arrhythmias. However, it is not complication-free, and cardiac perforation is one of its most life-threatening complications. As surgery is usually not the first-line treatment for this emergent episode, there were only very few sporadic surgical reports in the literature. This systemic review primarily aims to collect different surgical approaches for catheter-induced cardiac perforation to help surgeons manage this kind of uncommon and critical patients. Of the 452 initially screened articles, 22 studies (38 patients) were included in the systemic review. Of all the included patients, 84% (32/38) were found to have pericardial effusion acutely following catheter-related procedures, and 16% (6/38) experienced delayed-onset episodes. Regarding the surgical procedures, four patients underwent removal of clots only, eight patients underwent suture repair of the left ventricle (LV), nine patients underwent suture repair of the right ventricle (RV), five patients underwent suture repair of the LA, and four patients underwent sutureless repair of the LV and pulmonary vein (LV 1, RV 1, pulmonary vein 1). In addition to repair of perforation sites, the concomitant combined procedures included repair of intercostal vessels (complication of pericardiocentesis) for one patient, cryoablation for two patients, and maze procedure for one patient. For cardiac perforation following catheter ablation or electrophysiology study, although the majority of the patients are treated with pericardiocentesis and medical management at first, cardiovascular surgeons have to prepare to take over if the bleeding is persistent or if the cardiac tamponade is not relieved.
Keywords: Ablation for arrhythmias; Heart perforation; Surgical repair.