Solutions to the Challenges of Conduction System Pacing

Conduction system pacing is a new way of stimulating the heart using pacemaker wires. Traditional pacemakers stimulate the heart muscle which causes disordered heart beats: the walls of the heart move at different times. This wears down the heart over time.

Conduction system pacemakers stimulate the heart's electrical system directly producing natural heart beats that are much less disordered. Unfortunately, these pacemakers can only be implanted by a small group of experts at specialised centres with specialist equipment. This study aims to allow conduction system pacemakers to be offered to any patient at any hospital by simplifying the process of inserting the pacemaker wires and the improving the pacemaker's ability to interpret electrical traces.

Firstly, the best locations in the heart for conduction system pacemaker wires using specialised electrical traces, MRI and ultrasound scans will be identified. Features that can be seen on X-ray to guide doctors to these locations will then be identified. Secondly, the investigators will collect electrical information from the pacemaker wires and additional electrical traces to develop an algorithm that can make the interpretation the electrical traces more accurate.