13th International Congress
THE "NEW FRONTIERS"
OF ARRHYTHMIAS 1998

January 24-31, 1998
Marilleva, Trento, Italy

RT-120

"Optimal" atrioventricular delay in physiological pacing: assessment by echo-doppler study of common carotid artery flow and ergospirometric evaluation

Gherardo Gherarducci, Stefano Viani, Paolo Caravelli, Flavio Buttitta, Alberto Balbarini, Mario Mariani.
Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Department, University of Pisa, Italy

Introduction

Optimal atrioventricular delay in atrial sensed-ventricular paced stimulation favours cardiac performance at rest and probably improves cardiac efficiency and working capacity during exercise compared to rate-responsive ventricular pacing alone¹. Irrespective to underlying cardiac disease, it is essential to have an appropriately timed atrial contraction prior to the onset of ventricular systole in order to maximize cardiac output in patients with atrial synchronized pacemakers². Several methods have been investigated to assess optimal atrioventricular delay in these patients^3-5, but at the moment none of them seems to be completely satisfactory.

We investigated the feasibility and reliability of common carotid artery flow evaluation performed by echo-doppler sonography to program the optimal atrioventricular delay in patients treated with permanent atrial sensed-ventricular paced stimulation.