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Previous Volume 336:1518-1519 May 22, 1997 Number 21 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The earliest cardiac pacemakers did not sense spontaneous beats, and their metronomic "asynchronous" stimuli competed with patients' intrinsic heart rhythms (if any were present). Later, "demand" or "inhibitory" pacemakers could sense spontaneous depolarizations and synchronize with them. This averted competition with the patient's intrinsic rhythm but created the potential for inappropriate inhibition of stimuli during single-chamber pacing when extraneous electromagnetic interference was mistaken for spontaneous cardiac depolarization. With the advent of dual-chamber pacing, extraneous electromagnetic interference sensed in the atrium could trigger inappropriate stimuli in the ventricle, producing palpitations or even inducing ventricular tachycardia. Extraneous electromagnetic interference has long been . . . [Full Text of this Article]

References

Related Letters:

Cardiac Pacemakers and Cellular Telephones
Zuckerman B. D., Shein M. J., Danzi J. T., Carlo G. L., Hayes D. L., Johnson C. M., Steffens R. A., Bernstein A. D., Roelke M.
Extract | Full Text  
N Engl J Med 1997; 337:1006-1008, Oct 2, 1997. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Zuckerman, B. D., Shein, M. J., Danzi, J. T., Carlo, G. L., Hayes, D. L., Johnson, C. M., Steffens, R. A., Bernstein, A. D., Roelke, M. (1997). Cardiac Pacemakers and Cellular Telephones. NEJM 337: 1006-1008 [Full Text]