Moderator Band and Ventricular Tachycardia: Structural or Functional Substrate?

Abstract

The moderator band (MB) is an intracavitary structure of the right ventricle composed of muscular fibers encompassing specialized Purkinje fibers, separated each other by collagen and adipose tissue. In the last decades, premature ventricular complexes originating within the Purkinje network have been implicated in the genesis of life-threatening arrhythmias. However, right Purkinje network arrhythmias have been much less reported in the literature compared to the left counterpart. The MB has unique anatomical and electrophysiological properties, which may account for its arrhythmogenicity and may be responsible for a significant portion of idiopathic ventricular fibrillation. MB embodies autonomic nervous system cells, with important implications in arrhythmogenesis. Some idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias, defined as the absence of any identifiable structural heart disorder, can begin from this site. Due to these complex structural and functional peculiarities strictly interplayed each other, it is arduous to determine the precise mechanism underlying MB arrhythmias. MB-related arrhythmias should be differentiated from other right Purkinje fibers arrhythmias because of the opportunity for intervention and the unusual site for the ablation poorly described in the literature. In the current paper, we report the characteristics and electrical properties of the MB, their involvement in arrhythmogenesis, clinical and electrophysiological peculiarities of MB-related arrhythmias, and current treatment options.