Abstract
BACKGROUND: Right ventricular apical pacing with the resultant left ventricular dyssynchrony often leads to depressed systolic function and heart failure. This study aimed at investigating the relation between various septal locations guided by ECG and fluoroscopy and the intermediate term functional capacity of the patients. RESULTS: Fifty patients who received a single lead pacemaker with assumed > 90% pacemaker dependency. Patients were randomized according to RV pacing site RV into group 1 "high septum" (n = 15), group 2 "mid septum" (n = 25), and group 3 "low septum" (n = 10) using QRS vector and duration as well as fluoroscopic parameters. Their clinical status was assessed 6 months after device implementation using 6-min walk test (6MWT). The study showed that paced QRS complex duration itself has no significant difference between the different septal pacing locations (P-value 0.675), although its combination with the paced QRS complex vector can signify the optimal pacing site and 6MWT showed a significant difference among the groups in favor of group 1; group 1 (413.3 ± 148.5), group 2 (359.8 ± 124.6), and group 3 (276.0 ± 98.5) P value 0.04. CONCLUSION: There was a significant difference found between the three septal pacing sites concerning the patient functional capacity with superiority of high septal location. By contrast, different septal sites showed no significant difference of the paced QRS complex duration. To optimize the pacing site in the septum, assessment of the paced QRS vector in leads I and III is of a great benefit especially when combined with paced QRS complex duration assessment.