Inappropriate mode switching clarified by using a chest radiograph

Abstract

An 80-year-old woman with a history of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and atrioventricular node disease status post-dual chamber pacemaker placement was noted to have abnormal pacing episodes during a percutaneous coronary intervention. Pacemaker interrogation revealed a high number of short duration mode switching episodes. Representative electrograms demonstrated high frequency nonphysiologic recordings predominantly in the atrial lead. Intrinsic pacemaker malfunction was excluded. A chest radiograph showed excess atrial and ventricular lead slack in the right ventricular inflow. It was suspected that lead–lead interaction resulted in artifacts and oversensing, causing frequent short episodes of inappropriate mode switching.

Keywords

• Inappropriate mode switching
• Electrogram
• pacemaker artifact
• Oversensing
• Pseudoatrial tachyarrhythmia