Importance of atrioventricular synchrony for cardiac output in a patient with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction

Abstract

An 80-year-old male patient is presented, with previous dilated cardiomyopathy of ischemic etiology, with systo-diastolic left ventricular dysfunction, who initially presented atrial flutter and hemodynamic instability, thus, an electrical cardioversion was performed. After this procedure, a blocked atrial fibrillation was observed. Thus, an external pacemaker was placed. During the evolution, a 12 lead electrocardiogram was performed, showing permanent ventricular stimulation with retrograde conduction (ventriculo-atrial). The pacing rate was diminished for prioritizing the patient’s spontaneous rhythm resulting in an improvement of the blood pressure curve.