Pacing therapy for prevention of atrial fibrillation

The role of permanent pacing for the prevention of atrial fibrillation is reviewed. A moderate decrease in the incidence of acute and chronic atrial fibrillation has been seen with atrial pacing compared with ventricular pacing, especially in patients with sinus node dysfunction based on a meta-analysis of clinical trials. A variety of different pacing algorithms have been studied in small numbers of patients for only short durations of time and have shown an inconsistent effect on different measures of atrial fibrillation burden. The interatrial septum or Bachmann's bundle has been shown in some, but not all, studies to have a beneficial effect on reducing the incidence of atrial fibrillation. Less well studied is the combined benefit of alternate site atrial pacing combined with atrial fibrillation prevention pacing algorithms. Device measurement of the duration of atrial fibrillation appears to be an accurate measure of disease burden, and preliminary evidence suggests that atrial fibrillation burden is associated with an increased risk of stroke and death. Future studies are needed to demonstrate the long-term efficacy of device algorithms for the prevention or termination of atrial fibrillation.