BACKGROUND Temporary epicardial pacing wires are routinely used during cardiac surgery; they are dependable in controlling postoperative arrhythmias and are associated with low morbitity. CASE REPORT We report a case of sternobronchial fistula formation induced by the existence of retained epicardial pacing wires in a patient who underwent coronary surgery ten years ago. CONCLUSION Reported...

BACKGROUND In cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), quadripolar (QUAD) left ventricular (LV) leads are less prone to postoperative complications than non-QUAD leads. Some studies have suggested better clinical outcomes. METHODS AND RESULTS Clinical events were assessed in 847 patients after CRT-pacing or CRT-defibrillation using either QUAD (n=287) or non-QUAD (n=560), programmed to single...

Computer simulation of Electrophysiology Study (EPS) is realized by employing pacing protocols in EPS with the Wei-Harumi model. Intracardiac electrograms induced by typical pacing protocols–including the basic interval measurement, atrial extrastimulus pacing, ventricular extrastimulus pacing, incremental atrial pacing, and incremental ventricular pacing are successfully reproduced with a mode...

BACKGROUND Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is efficacious in the treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF); however, because it is non-physiological, some patients are unresponsive. The present study used rate-adaptive atrioventricular delay (RAAVD) to track the physiological atrioventricular delay and investigated the effects of left univentricular pacing on CRT. MATERIAL AND METHODS Pa...

BACKGROUND The effects of right ventricular apical pacing (RVAP) and right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) septal pacing on atrial and ventricular electrophysiology have not been thoroughly compared. METHODS AND RESULTS To identify a more favorable pacing strategy with fewer adverse effects, 80 patients who had complete atrioventricular block with normal cardiac function and who were treated...

The last two decades have produced significant advances in our theoretical understanding of cardiac pacing. The bidomain model, a mathematical representation of the anisotropic electrical properties of cardiac tissue, has provided insight into many long-standing mysteries of pacing, such as the mechanisms of make and break excitation, the shape of the strength-interval curve, and the induction ...

This case report describes a 50-year-old woman with normal repolarization duration who survived multiple electrical storms and cardiac arrest related to recurrent short-coupled torsade de pointes (TdP). Overdrive ventricular pacing could not prevent malignant TdP, but exposed a pause-related TdP initiation pattern. Isoproterenol and atrial pacing completely suppressed TdP, suggesting that ventr...

Improved techniques of transvenous pacing have made it possible to use this approach in various congenital cardiac abnormalities. Transvenous active fixation pacing leads were implanted in seven patients aged 15 to 81 years with abnormal venous, atrioventricular, or ventriculoarterial connections with successful ventricular pacing.

AIMS The purpose of this study was to create an epicardial electroanatomic map of the right ventricle (RV) and then apply post-operative-targeted single- and dual-site RV temporary pacing with measurement of haemodynamic parameters. Cardiac resynchronization therapy is an established treatment for symptomatic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. In congenital heart disease, RV dysfunction is a co...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Recent data suggest that biventricular pacing may play an important role in treating advanced heart failure in the presence of a significant interventricular and/or intraventricular conduction disorder by correcting cardiac dysynchrony. In this article, we review the initial technical and clinical experience with cardiac resynchronization therapy in an electrophysiolog...