Relation of the utility of exercise testing for risk assessment in pediatric patients with ventricular preexcitation to pathway location

Abstract

The gradual loss of ventricular preexcitation during exercise stress testing (EST) has an unclear risk of an association with life-threatening arrhythmia and could be related to the accessory pathway (AP) location. We compared the loss of preexcitation during EST with the risk assessment during invasive electrophysiology testing and determined whether the loss of preexcitation correlates with the AP location. We retrospectively reviewed patients aged ≤21 years with ventricular preexcitation who had undergone both EST and an electrophysiology study. The patients were divided into 3 groups: sudden loss (SL), gradual loss (GL), or no loss (NL) of preexcitation during EST. A total of 76 patients were included, with 11 (14%) in the SL group, 18 (24%) in the GL group, and 47 (62%) in the NL group. The SL group demonstrated a longer cycle length with 1-to-1 conduction by way of the AP during incremental atrial pacing compared with the NL group (375 ± 135 ms vs 296 ± 52 ms, p = 0.002), with no difference between the GL and NL groups (325 ± 96 vs 296 ± 52 ms, p = NS). Of the patients with 1-to-1 AP conduction of <270 ms, none (0 of 11) were in the SL group compared to 18 of 47 in the NL group (p = 0.0017), with no significant difference in the GL group (5 of 18) compared to the NL group (p = NS). The patients in the GL group were more likely to have a left-sided AP (14 of 18) than the NL group (17 of 47, p = 0.002) and the SL group (3 of 11, p = 0.002). In conclusion, a sudden loss of preexcitation during an EST predicted a long cycle length with 1-to-1 conduction by way of the AP. Also, the AP conduction characteristics in patients with GL compared to those with NL did not differ, and the GL of preexcitation was more frequently seen in patients with a left-sided AP.