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Ventricular TachycardiaAIM-VTNCT06138873

Ablation-Index Guided Scar-Mediated Ventricular Tachycardia Ablation in Patients With Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

A study testing Ablation-index guided ventricular tachycardia ablation and Ventricular tachycardia ablation with no AI-guidance in people with Ventricular Tachycardia and Ischemic Cardiomyopathy, run by Rush University Medical Center at 5 sites in United States.

Recruiting

Looking for participants now. Contact the study team or a site below to ask about taking part.

Sites and contacts
Official record
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Trial summary

Over the last decade, radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) has become an established treatment for ventricular arrhythmias (VA). Due to the challenging nature of visualizing lesion formation in real time and ensuring an effective transmural lesion, different surrogate measures of lesion quality have been used. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and older
What is being tested?
Ablation-index guided ventricular tachycardia ablation and Ventricular tachycardia ablation with no AI-guidance
Type of treatment
Surgery or procedure
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
100 participants
Where
5 sitesUnited States
Study dates
23 Oct 2024to 23 Nov 2027
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Patient ≥ 18 y.o.
  • Structural Heart Disease: Ischemic Cardiomyopathy
  • Sustained Scar-related Monomorphic Ventricular Tachycardia documented by ECG or CIED interrogation

Who cannot join

  • If clinical ventricular arrhythmia is predominantly PVCs, supraventricular tachycardia, or ventricular fibrillation
  • Myocardial infarction or cardiac surgery within 6 months
  • Severe mitral regurgitation
  • Stroke or TIA within 6 months
  • Prior VT substrate ablation in the previous 6 months
  • NYHA functional class IV
  • Non-ischemic VT substrate

Trial locations and contacts

5 sites in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.

Alexander Mazur, MD contact

312-942-5020

alexander_mazur@rush.edu

5 sites in 1 country

United States5 sites, 5 recruiting
  • Medical University of Michigan

    Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109

    Jackson Liang, DO, 888-287-1082, liangjac@med.umich.edu

    Jackson Liang, DO

    Not yet recruiting
  • Mass General Brigham and Women's Hospital

    Boston, Massachusetts, 02115

    Jorge E. Romero, MD, 617-732-5241, jeromero@bwh.harvard.edu

    Obadah Aloum, 617-732-5241, OALOUM@BWH.HARVARD.EDU

    Not yet recruiting
  • Medical University of South Carolina

    Charleston, South Carolina, 29425

    Bishnu Dhakal, MD, 843-876-2700, dhakalb@musc.edu

    Chandler Schwede, 843-792-5998, schwede@musc.edu

    Not yet recruiting
  • Rush University Medical Center

    Chicago, Illinois, 60614

    Henry D Huang, MD, 312-942-5020, henry_d_huang@rush.edu

    Recruiting
  • Mayo Clinic

    Rochester, Minnesota, 55905

    Konstantinos Siontis, MD, 507-422-0549, Siontis.Konstantinos@mayo.edu

    Konstantinos Siontis, MD

    Not yet recruiting

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Ablation-Index Guided Scar-Mediated Ventricular Tachycardia Ablation in Patients With Ischemic Cardiomyopathy (AIM-VT) - a Prospective Single-Blinded, Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

Over the last decade, radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) has become an established treatment for ventricular arrhythmias (VA). Due to the challenging nature of visualizing lesion formation in real time and ensuring an effective transmural lesion, different surrogate measures of lesion quality have been used. The Ablation Index (AI) is a variable incorporating power delivery in its formula and combining it with CF and time in a weighted equation which aims at allowing for a more precise estimation of lesion depth and quality when ablating VAs. AI guidance has previously been shown to improve outcomes in atrial and ventricular ablation in patients with premature ventricular complexes (PVC). However research on outcomes following AI-guidance for VT ablation specifically in patients with structural disease and prior myocardial infarction remains sparse. The investigators aim at conducting the first randomized controlled trial testing for the superiority of an AI-guided approach regarding procedural duration.

Read the detailed description

Over the last decade, radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) has become an established treatment for ventricular arrhythmias (VA). RFCA uses electromagnetic energy that transforms into heat upon delivery into the myocardium and irreversibly damages the viable myocytes, causing the loss of cellular excitability. Irreversible loss of cellular excitability generally occurs at temperatures exceeding 50°C, while at lower temperatures, the damage is not permanent and myocytes can recover excitability, leading to VA recurrences. Due to the challenging nature of visualizing lesion formation in real time and ensuring an effective transmural lesion, different surrogate measures of lesion quality have been used. The fall in local impedance during ablation has been considered as a first marker of the direct effect of ablation in cardiac tissue but the generator impedance drop does not correlate well with lesion size. First, large impedance drops can indicate impeding steam pop without effective lesion formation. Second scar tissue carries a lower impedance than healthy tissue due to their higher water/collagen content and make impedance drops less reliable.

One of the major determinants of lesion formation is an adequate contact between the tip of the catheter and the myocardial surface. A first major technological advancement in ablation catheters was the development of sensors at the distal tip capable of monitoring contact (contact force, CF). A recent ablation marker is the Force-Time-Integral (FTI), which multiplies CF by radiofrequency application duration. Limitations in this ablation parameter are the exclusion of maximal power settings being delivered and the assumption that a single target FTI is required in all myocardial segments with varying wall thickness and underlying substrate. Also for prolonged energy deliveries, the contribution of radiofrequency application duration is proportionally less important in lesion creation than CF. To overcome some of these limitations, the Ablation Index (AI) was introduced. This is a variable incorporating power delivery in its formula and combining it with CF and time in a weighted equation. It has shown to be a more precise estimation of lesion depth and quality in animal models and humans than FTI, time alone or impedance drop.

AI guidance has previously been shown to improve outcomes in atrial and ventricular ablation in patients with premature ventricular complexes (PVC). However research on outcomes following AI-guidance for VT ablation specifically in patients with structural disease and prior myocardial infarction remains sparse, with mainly research conducted in ex-vivo porcine or canine models. In theory, use of AI to guide ablation in this subpopulation of VT patients may shorten procedure time and possibly improve procedural safety in comparison to ablation guided by less reliable conventional parameters or fixed energy application durations. First pilot studies assessing AI-guided VT ablations in patients with structural heart disease provided some observational insights on procedural parameters but our study is the first randomized controlled trial testing for the superiority of an AI-guided approach regarding procedural duration.

Being tested
Ablation-index guided ventricular tachycardia ablation, Ventricular tachycardia ablation with no AI-guidance
Keywords
ventricular, tachycardia, ablation index, ischemic cardiomyopathy
Medical subject headings
Tachycardia, Ventricular, Tachycardia

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Ablation-index guided ventricular tachycardia ablationProcedure or surgery

    As described in arms descriptions

  • Ventricular tachycardia ablation with no AI-guidanceProcedure or surgery

    As described in arms descriptions

Study groups in NCT06138873
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
AI-guided ablationExperimentalUse of AI guidance to conduct the ablation
Receives: Procedure: Ablation-index guided ventricular tachycardia ablation
non-AI guided ablationActive comparatorAblation without AI guidance, AI values masked to the operator.
Receives: Procedure: Ventricular tachycardia ablation with no AI-guidance

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Percentage reduction in ablation time between the groups with/without AI guidance

    Percentage of reduction in ablation time in seconds, with ablation time defined as the total radiofrequency delivery time delivered during the VT ablation procedure. Total ablation time is automatically recorded by the Carto System Software and will be subsequently extracted as part of a raw unedited data file for unbiased endpoint evaluation.

    Measured: intra-procedural

Secondary outcomes (3)
  1. Percentage of reduction in total procedural duration in seconds between the AI/not AI group

    the time elapsed from injection of lidocaine as the start and removal of all catheters from the heart as the end of the procedure. Timestamps logged for these events in the EP lab will be used for unbiased endpoint evaluation.

    Measured: intra-procedural

  2. Total intravenous fluids administered in milliliters (ml)

    Defined as total intravenous fluid volume administered in the EP laboratory

    Measured: intra-procedural

  3. Fluoroscopy duration in minutes

    The time elapsed of procedural fluoroscopy usage in minutes

    Measured: intra-procedural

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted18 Nov 2023
  2. Study start23 Oct 2024
  3. Primary completion23 Nov 2026 (estimated)
  4. Study completion23 Nov 2027 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Triple blind
Who is masked
Participant, Care provider, Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
100 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT06138873
Sponsor's protocol ID
AIM-VT
Acronym
AIM-VT
Status last verified
Sep 2025
First submitted
10 Nov 2023
Last updated
22 Sep 2025
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No

Publications

  • Proietti R, Lichelli L, Lellouche N, Dhanjal T. The challenge of optimising ablation lesions in catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia. J Arrhythm. 2020 Dec 28;37(1):140-147. doi: 10.1002/joa3.12489. eCollection 2021 Feb.

    PubMed 33664896
  • Larsen T, Du-Fay-de-Lavallaz JM, Winterfield JR, Ravi V, Rhodes P, Wasserlauf J, Trohman RG, Sharma PS, Huang HD. Comparison of ablation index versus time-guided radiofrequency energy dosing using normal and half-normal saline irrigation in a porcine left ventricular model. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 2022 Apr;33(4):698-712. doi: 10.1111/jce.15379. Epub 2022 Jan 30.

    PubMed 35048448
  • Hussein A, Das M, Riva S, Morgan M, Ronayne C, Sahni A, Shaw M, Todd D, Hall M, Modi S, Natale A, Dello Russo A, Snowdon R, Gupta D. Use of Ablation Index-Guided Ablation Results in High Rates of Durable Pulmonary Vein Isolation and Freedom From Arrhythmia in Persistent Atrial Fibrillation Patients: The PRAISE Study Results. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2018 Sep;11(9):e006576. doi: 10.1161/CIRCEP.118.006576.

    PubMed 30354288
  • Gasperetti A, Sicuso R, Dello Russo A, Zucchelli G, Saguner AM, Notarstefano P, Soldati E, Bongiorni MG, Della Rocca DG, Mohanty S, Carbucicchio C, Duru F, Di Biase L, Natale A, Tondo C, Casella M. Prospective use of ablation index for the ablation of right ventricle outflow tract premature ventricular contractions: a proof of concept study. Europace. 2021 Jan 27;23(1):91-98. doi: 10.1093/europace/euaa228.

    PubMed 33063099
  • Bates AP, Paisey J, Yue A, Banks P, Roberts PR, Ullah W. Radiofrequency Ablation of the Diseased Human Left Ventricle: Biophysical and Electrogram-Based Analysis. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2023 Mar;9(3):330-340. doi: 10.1016/j.jacep.2022.10.001. Epub 2022 Oct 10.

    PubMed 36371330

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Ablation-index guided ventricular tachycardia ablation and Ventricular tachycardia ablation with no AI-guidance in people with Ventricular Tachycardia and Ischemic Cardiomyopathy, run by Rush University Medical Center at 5 sites in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 7 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 22 Sep 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 5 sites in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

Contact Alexander Mazur, MD (312-942-5020, alexander_mazur@rush.edu), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Percentage reduction in ablation time between the groups with/without AI guidance (time frame: intra-procedural). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06138873, which also lists 5 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 22 Sep 2025.

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