Pacing and clinical electrophysiology : PACE
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Pacing Clin Electrophysiol · Dec 2002
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical TrialVentricular rate stabilization for the prevention of pause dependent ventricular tachyarrhythmias: results from a prospective study in 309 ICD recipients.
Reviews of stored electrograms from ICDs revealed a 5-30% incidence of short-long-short intervals preceding the onset of recurrent ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Rate stabilization by dedicated antibradycardia pacing algorithms has, therefore, been suggested to prevent onset of pause dependent tachyarrhythmias. However, the clinical efficacy of this approach has not been studied systematically. ⋯ In an extended Cox model adjusting for confounding variables, the relative risk for recurrent episodes was 0.92 during VRS On compared to Off (95% CI: 0.58-1.48; P = 0.74). During VRS Off, pause dependent onset was documented in only 36 (8%) of 427 visually analyzed episodes. There was no significant reduction in the incidence of recurrent ventricular tachyarrhythmias with VRS On compared to the Off programming in this prospective study.