Faculty Bibliography

Delivery of leads to the His bundle pacing region is most commonly performed with non-deflectable or deflectable sheaths and a His lead with an exposed helix. We present a technique where any pacing lead may be delivered to the His region utilizing a catheter- and snare-delivered approach.

A 52-year-old lady presented to the emergency department with recurrent episodes of dizziness and near-syncope on awakening up or swinging her left arm. Initial rhythm strips demonstrated intermittently non-conducted p waves corresponding to inappropriate pacemaker inhibition and oversensing malfunction. Pacemaker was interrogated in the ED showing ventricular lead noise and decreased lead impedance over a one year period. The patient was diagnosed with pacemaker lead failure supported by correlating pacemaker lead variation with homolateral arm movement. The patient was referred to an electrophysiologist and underwent new right ventricular lead placement with the resolution of symptoms.

Cardiac perforation by a pacemaker lead is a rare complication of pacemaker implantation. Presentation can vary from chest pain and shortness of breath to the patient being completely asymptomatic. Diagnosis is usually made by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scan of the chest. Electrocardiograph (EKG) usually shows the absence of a paced rhythm, but it doesn't provide a definitive diagnosis. We describe a case of late cardiac perforation by an atrial pacemaker lead with no signs or symptoms of pericardial tamponade.

Arrhythmias are commonly mapped using a timing reference signal. There are a number of situations where mapping may be difficult or even impossible using conventional reference-based mapping. Wobbling arrhythmias or those who do not maintain a 1:1 relationship with the reference signal are problematic. Local vector mapping may be performed in these situations to map arrhythmias without the use of a reference signal.