Cardiac Pacing

Often, the hemodynamicabnormalities associated with heart disease can be modified, atleast for the short term, by altering the timing, sequence, and siteof cardiac electrical activation. In both hypertrophic cardiomy-opathy and dilated cardiomyopathy, dual-chamber pacing hasrelieved symptoms and improved hemodynamics in certainpatients. However, pacing techniques should be used as atherapeutic approach to individual patients rather than as routinetherapy for most patients with cardiomyopathies. Only recentlyhave controlled, randomized studies assessed the usefulness ofdual-chamber (VDD and DDD) pacing in patients with hyper-trophic or dilated cardiomyopathies.