Differences in mode of onset of ventricular tachyarrhythmias in dilated cardiomyopathies and coronary artery disease

This explorative study focuses on differences between the onset of spontaneous ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VT) of patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and affected by coronary artery disease (CAD) or dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). From 57 patients (40 CAD and 17 DCM), 35 (24 CAD and 11 DCM) we retrieved a total of 154 spontaneous VTs (72 CAD and 82 DCM). Three modes of VT onset are observed: (i) premature ventricular contraction (PVC); (ii) PVC preceded by a short-long-short cycle; (Hi) PVC preceded by a paced beat immediately after PVC pause. The analysis indicates that (i) average number of spontaneous VTs is much higher in DCM than CAD (7.5 vs. 3 VTs per patients in patient with VTs); (ii) modes of onset are more variable in DCM (1 patient experienced all 3 modes, 5 experienced 2 modes,) than CAD (only 2 patients experienced 2 modes) patients