NONINVASIVE TERMINATION OF ATRIAL-FLUTTER BY MEANS OF EXTERNAL PULSE TRIGGERING VIA IMPLANTED PACEMAKER

Atrial flutter can be terminated by means of medication, electrical ca rdioversion and invasive stimulation. In patients with a pacemaker pro viding external pulse control, the additional option of non-invasive t reatment of the cardiac arrhythmia exists. The pacemaker types used in this study allowed for extra stimulation, entrainment stimulation and high rate bursts. All these stimulation protocols were used during th e study depending on the underlying arrhythmia of the patient and othe r considerations. Conversion to sinus rhythm was achieved in eight out of ten consecutive patients. In the remaining two patients the flutte r was transformed into fibrillation. These results are similar to thos e of invasive overdrive stimulation. The noninvasive therapy offers ad vantages in terms of procedure simplicity, time requirements, patient stress and costs.