Ventricular Ectopy in Children without Known Heart Disease

ObjectiveTo describe the presentation and clinical course of patients with ventricular ectopy (VE) without known heart disease seen at a single institution.Study designPatients with VE were identified from the cardiology database. Patients with known hemodynamically significant heart disease or systemic diseases were excluded.ResultsA total of 219 patients constitute the study population, with 59% male and median age of diagnosis 11.3 years. A total of 138 patients had follow-up data. Median duration of follow-up was 3.1 years (n = 138, range 0-21 years) for a total of 587 patient-years. Simple VE was found in 83%, and 17% had ventricular tachycardia. Most patients were asymptomatic at presentation (77%) At presentation, echocardiograms were performed in 164 patients, with 98% normal. Of the 36 patients with sequential echocardiograms, 32 (88%) remained normal, 3 (9%) had abnormal echocardiograms which normalized, and 1 (3%) had progressive left ventricular dysfunction. On sequential Holter data (n = 48), 54% showed stable or decreased VE, 40% showed resolution, and 6% showed worsening. No cases of death or resuscitated sudden death occurred.ConclusionsMost patients were asymptomatic. There were rare cases of progression of VE and development of left ventricular dysfunction but the majority had stable findings. No deaths occurred.