Right ventricular desynchronization in patients with pacemaker syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To observe the incidence of ventricular desynchronization in patients with or without pacemaker syndrome (PMS). METHODS: The systolic peak velocity, the acceleration and the time to peak velocity of the interventricular septum (IVS), left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) lateral wall were detected by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) in 14 atrial fibrillation patients without pacemaker implantation (control), 18 atrial fibrillation patients without PMS and 16 atrial fibrillation patients with PMS. All patients were free of valve disease, myocardial infarction, severe pulmonary hypertension, low left ventricular eject fraction ( 0.05), however, the intervals to peak velocity of the IVS and RV lateral wall was significant shorter in patients with PMS compared to that of patients without PMS [(16.33 +/- 6.85) ms vs. (21.20 +/- 7.34) ms, P < 0.01]. CONCLUSION: RV desynchronization but not LV desynchronization might play an important role in patients with PMS.