Atrial pacing at multiple sites in the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome

Atrial pacing at multiple sites was used in an attempt to predict the site of pre-excitation in 5 patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome with 5 different anomalous pathway locations (right anterior, right posterior, septal, left posterior, and left lateral). At least 3 atrial pacing sites were tested in each patient. Pacing sites tested included high right atrium, low lateral right atrium, low septal right atrium, proximal coronary sinus, and distal coronary sinus. Atrial stimulation sites with shortest and longest stimulus-delta intervals could be identified in each patient, the shortest stimulus-delta interval in each case ranging from 60 to 80 ms. The difference between the shortest and longest stimulus-delta interval in each case ranged from 60 to 110 ms. It was suggested that the site with the shortest stimulus-delta interval corresponded to a site close to the atrial insertion of the anomalous pathway. This hypothesis was confirmed in all cases (3 with epicardial mapping and 2 with retrograde atrial activation data). In conclusion, atrial pacing at multiple sites is helpful in predicting the site of anterogradely conducting anomalous pathways, and appears particularly useful for differentiation of right posterior, left posterior, and septal pre-excitation.