This article discusses the main advances in cardiac arrhythmias and pacing published between 2013 and 2014. Special attention is given to the interventional treatment of atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmias, and on advances in cardiac pacing and implantable cardioverter defibrillators, with particular reference to the elderly patient.

et al. Impact of viability and scar tissue on response to cardiac resynchronization therapy in ischaemic heart failure patients. Eur Heart J 2007;28:33–41. 36. Chalil S, Stegemann B, Muhyaldeen SA, Khadjooi K, Foley PW, Smith RE et al. Effect of posterolateral left ventricular scar on mortality and morbidity following cardiac resynchronization therapy. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol 2007;30: 1201–9...

Cardiac sympathetic function was assessed by measuring the coronary sinus overflow of noradrenaline and dopamine at rest and during supine exercise in eight patients with high degree atrioventricular block treated with dual chamber pacemakers (DDD). Patients exercised (30-60 W) during both ventricular inhibited (VVI) and atrial synchronous (VAT) pacing. During exercise cardiac output increased ...

Around 40% of all human deaths are attributed to cardiovascular diseases. Cardiac pacing has become a therapeutic tool used worldwide with over 250.000 pacemaker implants every year. The purpose of this article is to detail the significant advances in cardiac pacing systems. Our focus is on the evolution of circuit designs applied in pacemakers. Future pacemaker features and further improvement...

The present study has examined the role of GJ (gap junctions) in the delayed anti-arrhythmic effect of cardiac pacing, with particular reference to the time-course changes in Cx43 (connexin43) expression both after pacing (4×5 min, at a rate of 240 beats/min) and 24 h later, when the dogs were subjected to a 25 min occlusion and reperfusion of the LAD (left anterior descending coronary artery)....

Low pacing variability in the heart has been clinically reported as a risk factor for lethal cardiac arrhythmias and arrhythmic death. In ia previous simulation study, we demonstrated that stochastic pacing sustains an antiarrhythmic effect by moderating the slope of the action potential duration (APD) restitution curve, by reducing the propensity of APD alternans, converting discordant to conc...

UNLABELLED It is an unfortunate fact that pacing-induced heart failure after cardiac surgery is frequently ignored by medical professionals. A 60-year-old woman with chronic atrial fibrillation with a single-lead right ventricular permanent pacemaker for a prolonged ventricular pause underwent mitral valve replacement 6 months later for severe stenosis (NYHA functional class III). The patient's...

The effects of atrial pacing on the cardiac balance of inorganic phosphate (Pi) were studied during control, atrial pacing, and recovery periods in 29 patients. Group A (n= 18) who had roentgenographically demonstrated coronary artery disease (CAD) developed angina during pacing, and showed mean myocardial lactate (L) production, abnormal left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and ST s...

In areflexic canine right heart bypass preparations, little difference in ventricular function was observed as a result of atrial pacing, sequential atrioventricular pacing, or atrial-His bundle pacing at an appropriate atrial systole-ventricular systole (As-Vs) interval. Ventricular function was depressed during ventricular pacing and during atrioventricular pacing with an inappropriate As-Vs ...

MIYAZAWA, K., HONNA, T., NANEDA, T., S=ATO, K., NAKAJIMA, T. and ARAI, T. Dynamic Geometry of the Left Ventricle during Ventricular Pacing: Correla tion with Cardiac Pumping Action. Tohoku J. exp. Med., 1977, 124 (3), 261-266 In five anesthetized open chest dogs, contraction patterns of the left ventricle induced by ventricular pacing were analyzed using cineangiocardiography. Left ventriculogr...