Table 2.

Results of transcoronary arterial ethanol ablation of ventricular tachycardia

Study reference	Year	Study design	Patients (n)	Age (years)	Indications	Follow-up	Results	Complications	Observations
Brugada  et al. [24]	1989	Intracoronary 96%  ethanol injection	3	44, 61, 62	Incessant tachycar-  dia postmyocar-  dial infarction	2–9 months  (mean 5.7)	Cease of arrhythmia in  100% (one recur-  rence at 1 month,  repeating procedure  successfully)	Short-lasting chest pain in  all the patients	Chemical ablation of  the arrhythmogenic  resulted in cure of the  disorder. Size of the  ablation should be as  limited as possible.
								Temporary complete AV  block with pacemaker  implantation in 1  patient (33%)	New collateral blood  supply may lead to  recurrence.
								Small to moderate AST  rise
Kay  et al. [25]	1992	Intracoronary 96%  ethanol injection	23 (10  received  ethanol)	59 ± 12	Sustained monomor-  phic ventricular  tachycardia  related to prior MI	102–788  days  (mean 372)	Cease in 100%, with  inducible VT in 3  patients (30%)	Complete AV block in 4  patients (40%)	Moderate degree of  efficacy and potential  for complications. Lo-  ng-term control for  particular patients.  Limited by the fre-  quent inability to  localize the arrhyth-  mia-related vessel.
							Little or no change in  LVEF.	Pericarditis (Dressler’s  syndrome) in 1 patient  (10%)
Tokuda  et al. [28]	2011	Intracoronary 96%  ethanol injection	27 – out  of these,  22 received  ethanol	63 ± 13	Symptomatic mono-  morphic VT refrac-  tory to RFA;  structural heart  disease	20 ± 11  months	VT was no inducible  after ablation in 18  patients (82%)	Complete heart block in  5 patients (38% of 13  patients with intact AV  conduction)	Important role for diffi-  cult VTs in high-risk  patients. Prevents  recurrences in 36%  and improves arrhyth-  mia control in an  additional 27%.
							VT recurrence in 14  patients (64%)	Temporary coronary  spasm 1 patient (5%)
							Nine out of 11 were  free from VT storm	Total mortality 32%, early  mortality (within 30  days) 14% and late  mortality 18%
								CK, CK-MB and Trop I  elevation
Sacher  et al. [32]	2008	Intracoronary 96%  ethanol injection	9	55 ± 9	Refractory monomor-  phic VT due to  scar-related re-  entry; ischemic  cardiomyopathy  in 6 patients  (67%)	29 ± 23  months	No VT recurrence in  67%	Transient ST-elevation  during injection in 5  patients (55%)	Applicable alternative  especially in cases of  septal scar (VT cir-  cuits deep intramyo-  cardial). TCEA rarely  used (1.4%).
							No significant change  in LVEF	Immediate: transient  severe hypotension in  2 patients (22%) and  bilateral groin hemato-  mas in 1 patient (11%)
							CK-MB and Trop. I rise  with injection	-Three patients died in the  follow-up from refrac-  tory HF (33%).

AST, aspartate aminotransferase; AV, Atrioventricular; CK, creatine kinase; CK-MB, creatine kinase MB; HF, heart failure; LVEF, Left ventricular ejection fraction; RFA, radiofrequency ablation; TCEA, transcoronary ethanol ablation; Trop. I, troponin I; VT, ventricular tachycardia.