Open AccessVentricular tachycardia initiated solely by reduced pacing rate during routine pacemaker follow‐up
Author(s) -
Alt Eckhard,
Coenen Martin,
Baedeker Wolfgang,
Schmitt Claus
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.4960190817
Subject(s) - medicine , cardiology , tachycardia , myocardial infarction , ventricular tachycardia , heart rate , anesthesia , ventricular pacing , heart failure , blood pressure
Ventricular arrhythmias during a pacemaker follow‐up have been previously reported, usually in conjunction with temporary asynchronous stimulation of a demand pacemaker through magnet application or by increased myocardial excitability, for example, following a myocardial infarction. The subject of this report, an 82‐year‐old pacemaker patient, had been VVI‐paced without problems for the past 11 years. As an aid in determining the sensing threshold, the pacemaker lower rate was reduced from 70 to 40 beats/min. A ventricular tachycardia of 240 beats/min was induced, most likely following short‐long cycles; syncope resulted. To our knowledge, this is the first report of induction of a ventricular tachycardia during pacemaker follow‐up solely by reduction of pacing rate and not by asynchronous pacing. This case demonstrates an additional potential risk associated with pacemaker rate manipulation during pacemaker follow‐up.