Mapping strategies for premature ventricular contractions-activation, voltage, and/or pace map.

A high premature ventricular contraction (PVC) burden is associated with an increase in cardiovascular mortality and may become clinically apparent through palpitations, reduced physical capacity or PVC-induced cardiomyopathy. Catheter ablation has been shown to be a more effective tool to treat patients with a high PVC burden than medical therapy alone. Current recommendations list catheter ablation as a class I option in patients with symptomatic idiopathic outflow tract PVCs as well as in patients with suspected PVC-induced cardiomyopathy. Careful planning is necessary to maximize efficiency and outcome of the ablation procedure. Prediction of the most likely PVC origin by studying the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) is important. A high burden of spontaneous PVCs is associated with a better outcome during and after the procedure; pharmacological provocation can be performed. Developments in high density mapping systems have greatly advanced accuracy and efficiency of arrhythmia mapping in recent years. Different systems are now available that allow the simultaneous use and integration of different mapping information in an automated manner. Voltage mapping, activation mapping and pace mapping are used in clinical practice today. Activation mapping is used to visualize the area of earliest activation. While it is a very accurate tool, it relies on a high burden of spontaneous PVCs. Pace mapping aims to find the target area by means of stimulation and comparison of paced QRS complexes with the clinical PVC. Today, mostly a combination of both methods is used to maximize procedure outcome and efficiency. While voltage mapping plays a primary role in the mapping of substrate-based sustained arrhythmias in patients with underlying structural heart disease, activation and pace mapping are the methods of choice for PVC mapping.