Case report: An elderly woman with recurrent syncope after pacemaker implantation

Abstract

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Syncope caused by atrioventricular block may occur as a result of a cardiac vasodepressor reflex. This article reports on a case of recurrent syncope in an 80-year-old woman with high-grade atrioventricular block, documented by electrocardiographic monitoring after pacemaker implantation. Pacemaker testing revealed stable impedance and sensing but a clear increase in the ventricular capture threshold at outputs. This case is unusual because the patient's primary diagnosis was non-cardiac. However, a combination of high D-dimer, hypoxemia, and computerized tomography scan of the pulmonary artery confirmed the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE). With 1 month of anticoagulant therapy, the ventricular capture threshold gradually dropped to the normal range and syncope resolved. This is the first report of an electrophysiological phenomenon detected by pacemaker testing in a patient with syncope arising from PE.

Keywords

• permanent pacemaker implantation
• loss of capture
• pulmonary embolism
• syncope
• electrophysiology phenomenon