Pacemaker

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an irregular heartbeat that can cause symptoms of skipped beats, shortness of breath, stroke, or in some cases fluid in the lungs or legs. Treating AF is mostly to do with slowing the heart rate down so that the heart can get a chance to regain some energy. In some cases, slowing the heart rate is not easy to achieve as some patients find it difficult to tolerate medications and suffer side effects from these treatments. In these instances, there might be a possibility to permanently control the heart rate by implanting a pacemaker in the heart and intentionally damaging a regulatory region of the heart called the atrioventricular (AV) node. Damaging the AV node by a procedure called ablation results in the AF not being able to influence the bottom chambers (the ventricles) resulting in a slow rhythm. Therefore, if a pacemaker is implanted then the heart rate can be completely regulated by the pacemaker. A complex pacemaker that stimulates both the right and left ventricles simultaneously (BiVP) has been used for the last decade prior to AV node ablation. More recently, a technique has been designed to reduce the number of leads in the heart, reduce procedure time and have a similar effect on the heart called Conduction System Pacing (CSP). There is not enough existing evidence to show that a pace and ablate strategy is superior to optimal medical therapy. We intend to compare the efficacy of CSP with AV node ablation to optimal medical therapy for treating AF.

This study aims to better quantify the improvements in heart failure symptoms and exercise tolerance before and after the heart rate elevation in a cohort of 10 cardiac amyloidosis patients with preexisting pacemakers.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has rapidly expanded over the past decade as a treatment for severe aortic valve stenosis, with over 14,000 procedures performed in France in 2021. A common complication following TAVI is traumatic atrioventricular block requiring pacemaker implantation, occurring in about 10% of patients. Conventional right ventricular pacing in these cases often leads to interventricular dyssynchrony, which can impair left ventricular ejection fraction and increase the risk of hospitalization, heart failure, and mortality. Cardiac resynchronization therapy via biventricular pacing is sometimes proposed as a secondary intervention but involves additional surgery. A newer pacing technique-selective left bundle branch area pacing-has been developed to provide physiological ventricular activation by stimulating conduction pathways distal to the lesion, thereby avoiding dyssynchrony. Retrospective studies suggest clinical benefits, but no prospective randomized trial has yet evaluated its efficacy compared to standard pacing. The objective of this study is to conduct the first randomized clinical trial comparing left bundle branch area pacing versus conventional right ventricular pacing in patients requiring pacemaker implantation due to atrioventricular block after TAVI.

Although the idea of a leadless pacemaker was first proposed in the 1970s to eliminate the probes, pockets and connectors required by conventional cardiac procedures and the associated complications, the first devices were not developed until the late 2010s. Leadless pacemakers can also improve patient comfort by replacing surgery with a percutaneous procedure, eliminating the mass and scar visible at the implantation site of a conventional pacemaker, and eliminating the need for activity restrictions to prevent dislodgement after implantation of a conventional lead. This french Registry "France LEADLESS" is a national registry designed to confirm the safety and efficacy of the AVEIR VR LP System in a patient population indicated for the implantation of a VVI(R) pacemaker in France and the AVEIR AR LP System in a population of patients indicated for the implantation of an AAI(R) pacemaker or both systems used in conjunction in a population of patients indicated for the implantation of a DDD(R) pacemaker. This registry will also make it possible to collect the characteristics and indications of patients under normal conditions of use.

In cardiac amyloidosis, the heart muscle becomes thick and stiff, making it difficult to pump enough blood with each beat. The heart also often cannot increase its stroke volume, making patients with cardiac amyloidosis more dependent on having an adequate heart rate. Many develop conduction problems and need a pacemaker. In a related condition, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, setting a higher pacemaker rate improved patients' quality of life. It is not known if the same benefits apply to amyloidosis. This study will test whether raising the pacemaker rate improves well-being and daily function in affected patients.

he Remote Alert Pathway to Optimize Care of Cardiac Implantable Electrical Devices (RAPTOR-CIED) Study is a pragmatic, multi-center, randomized trial with 1:1 patient-level randomization comparing the safety and effectiveness of alert-driven care versus guideline-based care for patients with wireless cardiac implantable electrical devices (CIEDs). The study will be conducted in 2 phases: a Feasibility Phase and a Main Phase. This registration outlines the goals and design features of the Main Phase of the study.

The goal of this clinical trial is to record the incidence of newly developed or worsening tricuspid valve regurgitation (TR) following the implantation of a pacemaker or defibrillator with a transvenous lead. To collect this data, a transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) with 3D imaging of the tricuspid valve (TV) will be performed before and after pacemaker implantation, with particular emphasis on assessing the tricuspid valve. Additionally, routine follow-up visits will be conducted at 6 and 12 months post-intervention, during which a TTE, ECG, NT-proBNP measurement, and pacemaker check will be performed.

The registry for leadless pacemakers will collect and annually analyze the data of all leadless pacemaker implantations at the University Hospital St. Pölten, including demographic information, indications, procedural details, acute, medium- and long-term complications during follow-up. Due to the partially novel nature of the signals (atrial mechanical sensing markers) and the lack of long-term experience to date, data on these aspects will also be collected and analyzed. This is a single-center, prospective and retrospective registry that includes all patients receiving a leadless pacing device, as well as all patients who received a leadless pacing device between January 2021 and the start of the registry. All patients undergoing implantation of a leadless pacemaker will be invited to participate in the registry. For patients to be included retrospectively, participation in the registry will be offered at the time of their next routine follow-up visit. The indication for leadless pacing will be determined by the physician responsible for the patient. Enrollment in the registry will in no case alter or influence the treatment the patient receives. Data collection will take place at the time of implantation and continuously during follow-up over the entire study period. Pacemaker-related data may be obtained either in person or via remote monitoring.

Heart Failure (HF) and Atrial Fibrillation (AF) are two conditions that commonly occur together. Clinical guidelines consider a resting heart rate of 100-110 beats per minute (bpm) acceptable for patients with HF and AF while 72 bpm is considered the average in healthy populations. A higher resting heart rate indicates that the heart is working harder to meet bodily demands, and though it may be considered safe for patients with HF and AF to have a heart rate of 110 bpm, the investigators believe it is having a significant negative impact on patient quality of life and their ability to exercise. The current study will test exercise ability using a treadmill test before and after either a cardioversion, where the patient's heartbeat is reset using electric shocks, or a pace and ablate method, where the patient receives a pacemaker to regulate their heart rhythm and an ablation (intentional damaging) of the node that coordinates the beats within the heart. This will allow investigators to compare how the heart responds to exercise when the patient is on rate-control and anticoagulation medication therapy (before cardioversion or pace and ablate) and after the procedures. During exercise, the investigators will do a blood test that lets investigators know how efficiently the heart is working and record any symptoms experienced. The investigators will also collect information about the patient's quality of life. Using this information, the investigators hope to better understand whether the current standard of a resting heart rate of 100-110 bpm is ideal for patient quality of life.

Bedrest is usually prescribed for patients management after cardiac electronic device implantation (CIED) in order to prevent complication. Due to the lack of guidelines available on the timing of postoperative mobilization management, the aim of the study is to evaluate the safety of early mobilization, comparing mobilization at 4-h against day-after procedure.

Each year about 37,000 patients undergo a catheter ablation to treat cardiac arrhythmias or have a cardiac device such as a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator implanted in the Netherlands. Although the procedures positively impact health related outcomes on the long term, they are often accompanied by periprocedural pain and anxiety on a shorter term. These negative effects can be prevented or treated by pharmacological interventions (e.g. analgesics or benzodiazepines), but side effects of these drugs may compromise patient safety and extend hospital admissions. Distraction using Virtual Reality (VR) may be an attractive non-pharmacological alternative. It is the aim of the Virtual Reality in Electrophysiological Procedures and device implantation (VR inEP) trial to study the feasibility and efficacy of VR to decrease experienced pain and anxiety in patients undergoing invasive procedures for arrhythmias and conduction disorders. The study also serves as a stepping stone towards structural implementation of VR into clinical care, by familiarizing care personnel of the cardiac catheterization rooms with the use of VR, its indications and logistics, and identifying potential barriers for structural implementation of VR. VR inEP is a single-center, open label, randomized controlled trial performed in the catheterization rooms in the Radboudumc. Adult patients undergoing an electrophysiological procedure (e.g., catheter ablation or electrophysiological study) or cardiac device implantation (e.g., pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator) performed under local anesthesia are eligible for inclusion. Patients consenting to participate are randomized in a 1:1 ratio to the VR intervention or control group, stratified for the indication for the procedure (50% electrophysiological procedures, 50% cardiac device implantations). Patients and their treatment teams are unblinded for the treatment allocation. The primary outcomes are pain perception and anxiety during the procedure as a whole, quantified using the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain and the numeric ranking scale (NRS) for anxiety, 30 minutes after the procedure ends.

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. These pacemakers can be challenging to insert with different heart shapes, sizes and scars. This can increase procedure times and time exposed to xray as pacemakers are inserted using x-rays to guide where the lead is implanted. This study aims to allow conduction system pacemakers to be implanted without the use of normal xray (fluoroscopy). The investigators will create an anatomical shell of the heart using special plastic (mapping) catheters that is inserted within the heart from the groin. The investigators will use a special heart scanning (echo) catheter to see how the pacemaker wire is inserted into the heart muscle. The investigators will use MRI to confirm that the information we collect is accurate. Using this information the investigators will create a protocol to implant a lead that does not require xray, using only the mapping catheter.

Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a common complication following cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation, with severe TR being associated with increased rates of heart failure hospitalization and all-cause mortality, significantly impairing patients' quality of life. With technological advancements, physiological pacing modalities have demonstrated superior clinical efficacy and safety profiles compared to conventional pacing methods. This study aims to evaluate predictors of adverse outcomes and TR progression in CIED recipients under different pacing modalities, thereby providing clinical guidance for high-risk patients.

The investigators have demonstrated that they can reliably identify an optimum heart rate range for contractility of the left ventricle in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). They have also demonstrated in an acute cross-over and a small parallel group feasibility study that keeping the heart rate in this range (versus standard rate-response programming) in patients with CHF is associated with increased exercise time on a treadmill (around 60s or 10%). They now want to explore in a randomised, placebo-controlled 3-arm parallel group trial whether optimal programming versus standard rate-response programming versus no rate-response programming for 6 months leads to appreciable improvements in exercise time and quality of life, while having no adverse effects on left ventricular function and battery longevity and what the mechanisms of this might be. 450 patients with CHF and a pacemaker will undergo the non-invasive echocardiographic assessment to establish the force frequency relationship and the optimal heart rate for contractility. They will then perform a treadmill walk test, complete quality of life questionnaires and be offered the opportunity to participate in a series of mechanistic substudies. They will then be randomised to optimal rate-response settings, standard rate response settings or no rate-response settings and followed up at 6 months at which point the tests will be repeated.

This is a multicenter, prospective, observational study ,the aim of this study is to find factors affecting selection of double-chamber leadless pacemaker in patients with atrioventricular block and ambulatory atrioventricular synchronous pacing status over time using a leadless ventricular pacemaker.

Syncope is a common presenting condition. Pacemaker implantation can significantly reduce syncope recurrences in reflex syncope. However, despite careful selection, a substantial proportion of patients treated with pacemakers suffer recurrences of syncope. It is thought that a pronounced vasodepressor component may hinder the efficacy of pacing in patients, preventing adequate cerebral perfusion during the reflex, thus relativizing the anti-bradycardia function of the pacemaker to prevent syncope. It is hypothesised that the time elapsed from the actual loss of consciousness to the asystole recorded on the ECG during Tilt Table Test may be predictive in terms of response to pacemaker therapy, so this parameter becomes the subject of the present study.

At present, cardiac pacing has been widely used in the treatment of bradyarrhythmias and heart failure, which can effectively improve the survival rate of patients. With the rapid development of technology, different sites can be chosen to pace, such as right atrial appendage, the atrial septum and the right atrial wall in the atrium, His bundle, left bundle branch area, right ventricular apex, outflow tract, and left ventricular pacing via coronary vein in the ventricle. There are few studies comparing the long-term efficacy and safety of different pacing sites in daily practice. This study aims to observe the efficacy and safety of cardiac pacing at different sites in short and long term, and to compare the advantages and disadvantages of pacing at different sites.

The study is a prospective registry. Consecutive patients with indications of implant / replacement or upgrade of pacemaker (PM), implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), Implanted loop recorder (ILR) will be enrolled. The primary objective of the study is to describe the clinical events during a long-term follow-up of non-selected population of patients implanted with an PM, ICD or ILR.