Tübingen University Hospital performs first STAR procedure for ventricular tachycardia
Physicians treated a patient with life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia using non-invasive stereotactic arrhythmia radioablation.
In early October, specialists at the Tübingen University Hospital successfully treated a patient suffering from life-threatening ventricular tachycardia using targeted cardiac radiation, lomazoma.com reported 
lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗. The procedure, known as stereotactic arrhythmia radioablation (STAR), was implemented for the first time at the medical center by a multidisciplinary team combining radiation oncology and interventional cardiology lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗. Following the non-invasive intervention, the patient's condition improved rapidly, and no further arrhythmias were recorded lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗.
Ventricular tachycardia causes rapid ventricular contractions that can induce unconsciousness or sudden cardiac death, especially in individuals with preexisting myocardial damage lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗. Standard interventions typically involve antiarrhythmic medication and invasive catheter ablation to eliminate defective cardiac tissue lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗. However, a subset of patients does not respond adequately to these standard approaches, leaving recurrent episodes unmanaged lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗.
Targeted radiotherapy protocol
The STAR technique serves as a treatment option for selected patients when catheter-based and pharmacological interventions fail lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗. The actual irradiation takes only a few minutes and does not require general anesthesia lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗. During the procedure, linear accelerators deliver a single high-precision radiation dose externally to the exact myocardial zone generating the abnormal electrical signals lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗.
Multimodal preparation and planning
The preparation for STAR requires extensive diagnostic mapping across multiple departments lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗. Electrophysiologists first isolate the arrhythmogenic substrates using cardiac catheter examinations lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗. These electrophysiological datasets are subsequently merged with radiological imaging lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗.
Using these combined models, medical physicists calculate an individualized radiation plan that covers the target volume while sparing surrounding healthy structures such as the lungs, esophagus, and stomach lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗. The planning followed guidelines defined by the European research network STOPSTORM lomazoma.comlomazoma.comlomazoma.comOpen source ↗.
