Stereotactic arrhythmia radiotherapy for ventricular tachycardia does not appear to alter QRS duration and QTc interval: a secondary analysis of the prospective STARNL-1 trial

FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): Dutch Heart Foundation grant to dr. P.G. Postema, MD PhD BACKGROUND: Stereotactic arrhythmia radiotherapy (STAR) has evolved as promising bail-out treatment in patients with therapy-refractory ventricular tachycardia (VT). The mechanism of action of STAR in preventing VT has yet to be elucidated and further understanding could improve this technique in the future. Preclinical studies reported an increase in conduction velocity and consequently a decrease in conduction intervals on electrocardiograms (ECGs) within the first months after STAR, although this has not yet been evaluated in detail in prospective studies. PURPOSE: To evaluate the early effects of STAR on ventricular conduction as electrocardiographically assessed. METHODS: The STARNL-1 was a prospective, monocenter, pre-post intervention study. Six patients with VT recurrences despite optimal doses of anti-arrhythmic drugs (AADs), after one or more unsuccessful catheter ablation(s), were considered therapy-refractory. Patients were treated with a single fraction of 25 Gy. ECG evaluation included ECGs recorded pre-therapy, at 3 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 1 month, and 3 months after therapy. For an additional assessment, only patients in whom AADs remained unchanged up to 3 months after STAR were selected. QRS duration and QT interval were measured by a single observer using digital callipers. Four consecutive beats were used to measure and calculate a mean QRS duration and QT interval per ECG. This study was not powered to evaluate for significant changes in ECG parameters. RESULTS: All patients were male, all suffered from ischaemic cardiomyopathy, and all completed 3-month follow-up. One patient presented with atrial fibrillation on ECG recordings, and three patients with a paced rhythm. Four patients (66.7%) were selected for an additional assessment, two patients (P1 and P2, 33.3%) underwent changes in AAD dose and were therefore excluded. Figure 1 shows a line graph of the QRS duration and QTc interval of all STARNL-1 patients during 3-month follow-up. As can be appreciated from Figure 1, QRS duration and QTc interval did not appear to be altered between pre-therapy and 3 months after therapy. When excluding P1 and P2, QRS duration and QTc interval also did not appear to be altered between pre-therapy and 3 months after therapy. CONCLUSION(S): STAR for VT does not appear to alter QRS duration and QTc interval within the first 3 months after therapy. [Figure: see text]