The VISTA Scores: Development and Internal Validation of Novel Clinical Models for Predicting Recurrence and Mortality After Ventricular Tachycardia Ablation

Description

Laura Stanciulescu and Maria Dorobantu developed two prediction scores in a 2026 study of patients who had catheter ablation for scar-related ventricular tachycardia, a dangerous heart rhythm arising from damaged heart muscle. Existing scores focus on the procedure itself and miss how much arrhythmia a patient carries. The pair built their models from a single-center group of treated patients.

From over a thousand candidate models for each outcome, they selected two compact scores covering twenty-four months after ablation. The mortality score, using pumping strength, heart failure class, rhythm variety, and defibrillator shocks, discriminated strongly. The recurrence score performed moderately, leaning on electrical storm history and shocks. The authors conclude that death tracks heart failure severity while recurrence tracks electrical instability, and they call for outside validation.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13256179