This 65-year-old man received an Ensura dual chamber pacemaker for treatment of syncope due to high-grade AV conduction defect; he suffered from end-stage renal failure and sustained a syncopal event a few hours before undergoing hemodialysis, 2 months after implantation of the pacemaker.
The first channel is lead I of the surface ECG with the markers superimposed, the second shows the atrial EGM, the third and fourth show the ventricular EGM, and the last channel is lead III;
This pacemaker was programmed at a pacing amplitude of 2.5V / 0.4 ms. In hemodialyzed patients, the status of electrolytes, e.g. sodium, potassium, calcium, and glucose levels change constantly with possible concomitant changes in pacing threshold, requiring a regular monitoring of the pacing output and consequent modifications in order to reliably capture the myocardium. With this in mind, Capture Management is a noteworthy function. When Capture Management is active, the pacemaker automatically monitors the pacing threshold at regular intervals. After it has measured the threshold, the pacemaker sets a target output as a function of a programmable safety margin. This guarantees a reliable capture in patients whose pacing threshold varies widely, without having to permanently program high pacing amplitudes.
In this patient, variations in the ventricular threshold were observed, reaching 3.5 V / 0.4 ms. No lead dislodgement was found on chest X-ray.