Impact of obesity and prognostic nutritional index on outcomes of ventricular tachycardia ablation in patients with structural heart disease

Objectives: Previous studies have demonstrated that nutritional disorders such as obesity and malnutrition are associated with adverse events in patients with a structural heart disease. The impact of these conditions in patients undergoing ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation is not known. In this study we sought to investigate the effect of obesity and malnutrition on procedural and post-procedural midterm outcomes in patients undergoing VT ablation. Materials and methods: This is a single center, retrospective study which enrolled patients undergoing structural VT ablation. Patients were classified as normal weight, overweight and obese by body mass index (BMI). Malnutrition was defined as prognostic nutritional score (PNI) < 38. Outcomes between groups were compared. Results: A total of 203 patients were enrolled to this study. Among these patients, 54 (25.6%) were normal weight, 102 patients (50.2%) were overweight, and 47 patients (23.1%) were obese. 18 patients (8.8%) were classified as malnourished. No significant difference in VT recurrence was observed across BMI (p=0.335) or nutritional status (p=0.556). However, mortality during follow-up was significantly higher in the malnourished group (50% vs. 7%, p