Journal of Innovations in Cardiac Rhythm Management最新文献

Pacing-induced recurrent short-long-short sequences constitute an important yet overlooked mechanism for triggering ventricular tachyarrhythmias in patients with cardiovascular implantable electric devices. A careful and thorough retrospective analysis of patients' electrograms allows for a timely diagnosis with appropriate management.

Pulsed-field ablation (PFA) is a novel technology for atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation that can deliver energy precisely with a lower risk of damage to the surrounding organs. Persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC) is a congenital variant that can act as a driver of AF, and its isolation may be required in recurrent persistent AF. We describe a case where PFA was used for isolation of the right superior vena cava, PLSVC, and posterior wall of the left atrium.

Following a non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (MI), a 68-year-old hypertensive, severely obese woman with 45% left ventricular ejection fraction underwent an implantable cardiac monitor (ICM) insertion. After 8 months, the ICM remotely transmitted multiple non-sustained ventricular tachycardia episodes. Symptomatic during these events, the patient underwent an invasive electrophysiologic stimulation, which induced ventricular arrhythmia. Subsequently, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation was recommended. Continuous remote monitoring via an ICM detected critical arrhythmias in this post-MI patient, facilitating timely intervention.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects around 33 million people worldwide, rendering it a common cardiac arrhythmia. Catheter ablation (CA) has evolved as a leading therapeutic intervention for symptomatic AF. This umbrella review systematically evaluates existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses to assess the safety, efficacy, and potential of high-power, short-duration (HPSD) ablation as an alternative therapy option for AF. A thorough exploration was undertaken across PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and Embase to identify pertinent studies for inclusion in this umbrella review. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) method was employed to assess the overall certainty of the evidence comprehensively, and the quality of the incorporated reviews was meticulously evaluated through use of the AMSTAR 2 tool, the Cochrane Collaboration tool, and the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. In this study, we initially identified 35 systematic reviews and meta-analyses, narrowing them down to a final selection of 11 studies, which collectively integrated data from 6 randomized controlled trials and 26 observational studies. For primary efficacy outcomes, the HPSD approach led to a non-significant decrease in the risk of atrial tachyarrhythmia recurrence (risk ratio [RR], 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.70-1.12; I ² = 90%; P = .31) and a significantly reduced risk of AF recurrence (RR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.42-0.67; I ² = 0%; P < .00001) compared to the low-power, long-duration (LPLD) approach. In terms of primary safety outcomes, the HPSD approach significantly reduced the risk of esophageal thermal injury (ETI) (RR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.61-0.83; I ² = 0%; P < .00001) and facilitated a non-significant decrease in the risk of other major complications (RR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.73-1.03; I ² = 0%; P = .10). In conclusion, HPSD therapy is safer and more effective than LPLD therapy, facilitating decreased AF recurrence rates along with reductions in ETI, total procedure duration, ablation number, ablation time, fluoroscopy time, and acute pulmonary vein reconnection.

Current leadless pacemaker (LP) systems, which have been developed and used in patients with normal cardiac anatomy, are rare and technically even more challenging to implant in patients with congenital heart diseases, especially with univentricular physiology and Fontan palliation. We report two cases of percutaneous LP implantation in an adult and a child, respectively, highlighting the unconventional approaches, different challenges, and use of multimodality imaging in patients who underwent a Fontan operation.

Conduction system pacing (CSP) has emerged as an alternative to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT); however, there is limited experience with CSP using implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) leads. The achievement of CSP with an ICD lead may yield comparable results to cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) therapy using fewer leads. We implanted the Biotronik Linox DX "VDD"-programmable ICD lead in a swine model to investigate the feasibility of "single-lead" CRT-D implantation. With the lead embedded in the basal right ventricular septum, morphologic criteria for CSP were achieved, and successful defibrillation was performed while maintaining atrial sensing. Future work may assure reproducibility of these findings and further determine the feasibility of a single-lead CRT-D.

Telemetry monitoring (conventional cardiac monitoring system [CCMS]) is a universal method for postoperative arrhythmia detection; however, the clinical challenge of alarm fatigue, primarily associated with noise or cable disconnections, persists. The introduction of wireless continuous cardiac monitoring (WCCM) represents a potential solution to enhance recording fidelity. Patients were simultaneously outfitted with both a monitoring device considered the standard of care and a novel adhesive wireless patch. A 48-h cardiac monitoring session with the two devices occurred after cardiac surgery in a unit equipped with a telemetry system. A total of 53 patients with a mean age of 60 ± 17 years were included in the trial. The number of events detected by the two systems was significantly different at 190 versus 174 for the CCMS and the WCCM system, respectively (P < .05). However, the percentage of agreement was not significantly different at 91% versus 88% (P = .37). Events were classified as follows: pause (2 events, 1%), atrial or premature ventricular contractions (18 events, 11%), atrial flutter or fibrillation (76 events, 45%), bradycardia (12 events, 7%), and tachycardia (61 events, 36%). False alarms were significantly more frequent with the CCMS (n = 21) than with the WCCM system (n = 5; P = .002). The study successfully demonstrated the feasibility and usability of wireless monitoring for patients requiring telemetry. The overall results are compelling, as the WCCM system performed satisfactorily, achieving results comparable to those obtained with the CCMS, even with significantly fewer false alarms.