Acute myocardial infarction in a patient with permanent left bundle branch pacing.

BACKGROUND: Electrocardiographic diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction in the setting of cardiac pacing represents diagnostic challenge. There are no focusing data, neither reporting about diagnostic sensitivity of 12­lead ECG with left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) during acute myocardial infarction (AMI). CASE SUMMARY: We present 12­lead ECG morphology in a patient with permanent LBBAP during AMI. DISCUSSION: Abnormal repolarization changes induced by ventricular pacing can lead to delay in diagnosis in patients with AMI. LBBAP and overall conduction system pacing may facilitate a timely diagnosis providing additional, still underestimated, advantages of physiological pacing of the heart.

Cardiac resynchronization therapy: present and future.

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) via biventricular pacing (BVP) is a well-established therapy for patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and left bundle branch block, who remain symptomatic despite optimal medical therapy. Despite the long-standing clinical evidence, as well as the familiarity of cardiac electrophysiologists with the implantation technique, CRT via BVP cannot be achieved or may result ineffective in up to one-third of the patients. Therefore, new alternative techniques, such as conduction system pacing and left ventricular pacing, are emerging as potential alternatives to this technique, not only in case of BVP failure, but also as a stand-alone first choice due to several potential advantages over traditional CRT. Specifically, due to its procedural characteristics, left bundle branch area pacing appears to be the most convincing technique, showing comparable efficacy outcomes when compared with traditional CRT, not increasing short-term device-related complications, as well as improving procedural times. However, transvenous leads remain a major limitation of all these pacing modalities. To overcome this limit, a leadless left ventricular endocardial pacing has been developed as an additional tool to achieve a left endocardial activation, although being still associated with non-negligible pitfalls, limiting its current use in clinical practice. This article focuses on the current state and latest progresses in cardiac resynchronization therapy.