His-bundle pacing as a standard approach in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation and bradycardia.

BACKGROUND: His-bundle (HB) pacing is the most physiological method of ventricular pacing. However, it is also considered a demanding procedure with a low success rate and has suboptimal pacing parameters. There is a scarcity of data concerning HB pacing as a standard approach in patients with symptomatic bradycardia. Our goal was to compare acute and chronic results of two approaches to pacing in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation, narrow QRS complexes, and symptomatic bradycardia: right ventricular myocardial pacing versus HB pacing. METHODS: Consecutive patients who received HB pacemakers were compared with historical controls-i.e., consecutive patients with classic VVI pacemaker implantations, performed by the same operator before 2014 (commencement of routine HB implantations). Acute and long-term capture threshold, sensing, battery current drain, as well as procedure and fluoroscopy duration, complications, and success rate were compared. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-five patients were analyzed (including 65 patients with HB pacing): age 73.0 ± 10.5 years, left ventricular ejection fraction of 48.2 ± 13.5%. HB pacing was inferior to right ventricular myocardial pacing in terms of higher threshold, lower sensing amplitude, higher current drain, lower success rate, longer procedure, and fluoroscopy times. However, despite this, HB procedure and fluoroscopy times of 64.4 ± 30.0 and 11.0 ± 10.7 minutes, respectively, long-term successful HB pacing in 87.9% of patients, a chronic threshold of 1.5 ± 1.1 V, chronic sensing of 3.6 ± 2.5 mV, and chronic current drain per pulse of 3.4 ± 4.4 µAh seem acceptable. CONCLUSIONS: HB pacing can be used as an alternative standard method of pacing in atrial fibrillation patients.