title: Pacing in cardiomyopathy.
abstract: Permanent cardiac pacing is an established treatment for the prevention of syncope or sudden death in patients with heart block or sinus node disease. Recent observations underscore the use of pacing in patients with various forms of cardiomyopathy, i.e. hypertrophic, dilated and tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy. The evidence favouring the use of pacing in patients with cardiomyopathy is mainly derived from retrospective and uncontrolled investigations and the data from the scarce randomized investigations are rather disappointing. Therefore, the indications for pacing remain controversial.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Center Aalst, Belgium. marc.goethals@olvz-aalst.be
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Goethals
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vanderheyden
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium; D002304:Cardiac Pacing, Artificial / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D002312:Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D018849:Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome