HWN Suggests

Single and dual chamber pacing modes

Pacing both chambers is a very good idea. There are several benefits:

Improved cardiac output due to the addition of atrial systolic volume to the diastolic filling of the ventricle. Prevention of "pacemaker syndrome" - the retrograde activation of atrial contraction. In the walking-around-not-dying population, particularly those with sinus node dysfunction, the quality of life is better with a dual-chamber pacemaker. The chances of developing AF are lower with dual-chamber pacing. There is no difference in mortality between single-chamber and dual-chamber pacing, according to the MOST trial (MOde Selection Trial); so there seems to be no additional complication risk.

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Articles of Interest

Single chamber or dual chamber pacemaker?

The decision between single chamber and dual chamber pacemaker though important based on cost, device longevity and complication wise, is not that easy to make.

Single Chamber Ventricular Pacing

Chronologically, single chamber ventricular pacing was the first method of long-term cardiac pacing. During the early 1990’s, with the introduction of atrial pacing and a plethora of dual chamber pacing modes, it became necessary to design a simple method of recognition of the pacing mode programmed. After a number of iterations, a three letter identification code evolved with a fourth letter to identify a rate adaptive function.