Effects of Biventricular Pacing Locations on Anti-Tachycardia Pacing Success in a Patient-Specific Model

Eric Paccione1, Matthias Lange2, Ben Orkild1, Jake Bergquist1, Eugene Kwan1, Bram Hunt1, Derek Dosdall1, Rob MacLeod1, Ravi Ranjan1
1University of Utah, 2Universtiy of Utah


Abstract

Patients with drug-refractory ventricular tachycardia (VT) often undergo implantation of a cardiac defibrillator (ICD). While life-saving, shock from an ICD can be traumatic. To combat the need for defibrillation, ICDs come equipped with low-energy pacing protocols. These anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP) methods are conventionally delivered from a lead inserted at the apex of the right ventricle (RV) with limited success. Recent studies have shown the promise of biventricular leads placed in the left ventricle (LV) for ATP delivery. This study tested the hypothesis that stimulating ATP from multiple biventricular locations will improve termination rates in a patient-specific computational model. VT was first induced in the model, followed by ATP delivery from 1-4 biventricular stimulus sites. We found that combining stimulation sites does not alter termination success so long as a critical stimulus site is included. Combining the RV stimulus site with any combination of LV sites did not affect ATP success except for in one case. Including the RV site may allow ATP to be directionally independent without affecting the efficacy of other stimulation sites. Combining sites may increase the likelihood of including a critical stimulus site when such information cannot be ascertained.