Electrical stunning and hibernation: suggestion of new terms for short- and long-term cardiac memory

Persistent T wave changes following resumption of sinus rhythm induced by pacing or arrhythmias that cause altering of ventricular activation sequence are named "cardiac memory". After this initial definition there has been a discussion whether such T wave changes are primary, secondary or pseudoprimary. In addition according to the results of pathophysiological studies investigating the mechanism and nature of this repolarization abnormality some authors have preferred to use the term "electrical remodelling" instead of cardiac memory. But these two terms are still not well defined. In this article, the previous terms are discussed and a new term instead of cardiac memory is introduced.