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Circulation. 1998;97:66-74

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(Circulation. 1998;97:66-74.)
© 1998 American Heart Association, Inc.


Clinical Investigation and Reports

Empirical Versus Tested Antitachycardia Pacing in Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators

A Prospective Study Including 200 Patients

Anselm Schaumann, MD; Friederike von zur Mühlen, MD; Bernhard Herse, MD; Bernd-Dieter Gonska, MD; ; Heinrich Kreuzer, MD

From the Departments of Cardiology and Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital Göttingen, Germany.

Correspondence to Anselm Schaumann, MD, Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Str 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany. E-mail: aschaum{at}gwdg.de

Background—Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether testing of antitachycardia pacing (ATP) for induced ventricular tachycardias (VTs) at predischarge examination can predict ATP success during follow-up.

Methods and Results—The study covers 200 consecutive patients who received ICD implants from June 1991 through December 1995. All underwent electrophysiological testing. In 54 patients (ATP tested, group T), ATP terminated induced VTs successfully. In 146 patients (empirically programmed ATP, group E), only ventricular fibrillation could be induced, including 18 with unsuccessful ATP attempts for induced VTs. Disregarding the results of ATP testing, the same ATP scheme was programmed in all patients: three attempts of autodecremental ramp with 81% of the VT cycle length, with 8 to 10 pulses. During a follow-up of 20.4±10 months, 95% of 3819 spontaneous VTs were successfully terminated with ATP in 42 patients of group T. In group E, 90% of 1346 spontaneous VTs in 81 patients were terminated with ATP. Acceleration after ATP occurred in 2% in group T versus 5% in group E. The success for all episodes in individual patients was >=90% in >60% of the ATP tested and empirically programmed patients.

Conclusions—The results of this 200-patient prospective study comparing tested versus empirical ATP show high success (95% versus 90%) for VT termination, with low rates of acceleration. ATP is safe and very effective and should be programmed "on" in all patients regardless of the predischarge EP inducibility.


Key Words: arrhythmia • tachycardia • heart assist device • pacing




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