Cardiac pacing

Sixty-seven recent publications in the field of cardiac pacing are reviewed under the headings of underlying mechanisms, temporary pacing, reports of therapy, pacing technology, and complications. The reference list is annotated, and papers considered of particular importance are highlighted. This review offers an appraisal of the recent advances in this highly technologic field, with particular emphasis on clinical problems, and is divided into five sections. The first covers the underlying mechanisms that lead to the need for pacing and the changes in hemodynamics and the neuroendocrine system that pacing imposes. The second examines two aspects of temporary pacing. The third gives a wide view of reports of therapy, and the fourth gives a clinical view of advances in pacing technology. The final section covers complications of pacing therapy.