New Advances in Biventricular Pacing: Improving Ventricular Sensing Function

Several studies and increasing clinical experience suggest that interventricular resychronization can play an important role in the therapy of congestive heart failure (CHF) that is refractory to standard drug treatment. A remarkable percentage of CHF patients present with a delay in interventricular conduction and often with an ECG pattern of left bundle branch block (LBBB). The delayed left ventricular activation has detrimental effects on diastolic ventricular filling, with E wave and A wave overlapping, and can result in functional mitral regurgitation [1,2]. In addition, desynchronization of myocardial contraction in the right and left ventricles (RV, LV) impairs the pump function, reducing the stroke volume (SV), and increasing the physical stress to the heart [3,4].