Effects of right, left, and biventricular pacing on myocardial perfusion in ischemic conditions

In normal hearts, the distribution of regional myocardial perfusion is altered by ventricular pacing. Little is known about the impact of ventricular pacing on regional myocardial perfusion in ischemic conditions. In this acute echocardiographic study, we compared the respective effects of right ventricular pacing (RVP), left ventricular pacing (LVP), and biventricular pacing (BVP) on regional perfusion in a swine model of graded ischemia.

Ventricular pacing leads were placed at the apex of the right ventricle and on the lateral wall of the left ventricle in nine open-chest pigs. Myocardial contrast echocardiography was successively performed during spontaneous rhythm (SR), RVP, LVP, and BVP in random order at baseline and during three stages of incremental ischemia (left anterior descending + circumflex). At baseline, RVP decreased myocardial perfusion of the septal and inferior walls compared to SR (P < 0.05), whereas LVP decreased perfusion of the lateral wall (P < 0.05). No significant differences were observed in regional perfusion during BVP compared to SR. In ischemic conditions, RVP worsened myocardial perfusion in the ischemic anterior wall as well as in the septal and inferior walls (P < 0.05), whereas both LVP and BVP did not alter perfusion in the ischemic area compared to SR.

Compared to baseline, in ischemic conditions, RVP has a more pronounced detrimental impact on perfusion abnormalities. In contrast, BVP induced a significant improvement in local myocardial perfusion. Therefore, BVP could be preferred to RVP in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy.