14th International Congress
THE "NEW FRONTIERS"
OF ARRHYTHMIAS 2000

Jan. 29 - Feb. 5, 2000
Marilleva, Trento, Italy

RT-42

Atrial pacing reduces mode switching episodes in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation

Giuseppe Stabile, Antonio De Simone, Dino Franco Vitale*, Pietro Turco, Vincenzo La Rocca, Gaetano Senatore**, Carmine De Matteis***, Raffaele Rotunno****, Tommaso Di Napoli****, Costantino Astarita°, Saverio Maresca°.
Laboratorio di Elettrofisiologia, Casa di Cura “San Michele” Maddaloni, *Dipartimento di Geriatria, Universita degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Napoli, **Cardiologia, Ospedale Civile di Cirie, ***Servizio di Riabilitazione, Ospedale Civile di Arienzo, ****Unita Coronarica, Ospedale Civile di Polla, °Unita Operativa di Cardiologia, Ospedale Civile di Sorrento, Italy

Since medical control of atrial fibrillation (AF) has generally been difficult¹ several nonpharmacologic strategies are being investigated for the management of AF. Among them, single- or dual-site atrial pacing ha been reported to be effective and well tolerated in selected patients^2-4. However, the efficacy of atrial pacing has been demonstrated only by the reduction of patients’ symptoms. Recently it has been demonstrated that the pace-makers’ mode-switching (MS) algorithms are reliable in detecting paroxysmal episodes of atrial tachyarrhythmias^5,6. So, in patients with paroxysmal AF, their number may be correlated to AF episodes number. It was the aim of our study to prospectively analyze the effect of atrial pacing on MS episodes in patients with AF undergoing pace-maker implant because of coexisting sick sinus syndrome or atrioventricular block.