Introduction: Prognosis after electrical storm (ES) ablation remains severe, especially in patients with recurrent sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (SMVT) or progressive heart failure (HF). However, single-factor-based prediction is suboptimal and may be refined by more complex algorithms. We sought to evaluate if a novel score MSA-VT (M = moderate/severe mitral regurgitation, S = severe HF at admission, A = atrial fibrillation at admission, VT = inducible SMVT after ablation) may improve prediction of death and recurrences compared to single factors and previous scores (PAINESD, RIVA and I-VT).
Methods: A total of 101 consecutive ES ablation patients were retrospectively analyzed over a 32.8-month (IQR 10-68) interval. The MSA-VT score was calculated as the sum of the previously mentioned factors' coefficients based on hazard ratio values in Cox regression analysis. The AUC for death prediction by MSA-VT was 0.84 (p < 0.001), superior to PAINESD (AUC 0.63, p = 0.03), RIVA (AUC 0.69, p = 0.02) and I-VT (0.56, p = 0.3). MSA-VT ≥ 3 was associated with significantly higher mortality during follow-up (52.7%, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: Prediction by single factors and previously published scores after ES ablation may be improved by the novel MSA-VT score; however, this requires further external validation in larger samples.
Keywords: catheter ablation; electrical storm; mortality; recurrence; risk assessment.