The use of permanent pacemakers in the detection of cardiac arrhythmias.
OBJECTIVE
To compare pacemaker telemetry with simultaneous Holter recordings in the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation and to evaluate the STOP-AF study telemetry criteria for the presence of atrial fibrillation.


RESULTS
18 consecutive patients enrolled in the STOP-AF study had simultaneous 24 h Holter recordings and down-loaded pacemaker telemetry. There was good agreement on heart rate, but the STOP-AF pacemaker criteria achieved only 57% sensitivity with 64% specificity for the presence of atrial fibrillation on Holter recording over 24 h. False-positives appeared to result from far-field sensing while false-negatives occurred with very short episodes of atrial fibrillation. The pacemaker's antitachycardia responses were not specific for the presence of atrial fibrillation.


CONCLUSIONS
Pacemaker telemetry is a potentially important source of data on cardiac arrhythmias. Further studies are required to define the limitations of these data in specific devices before they can be interpreted with confidence.
Plummer
C J
CJ
Department of Cardiology, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. C.J.Plummer@ncl.ac.uk
Henderson
S
S
Gardener
L
L
McComb
J M
JM
D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013686:Telemetry