Safety and Efficacy of Noninvasive Cardiac Pacing

Abstract

EXTERNAL cardiac pacing for asystole was introduced in 1952.¹ Before then there was no effective method of restoring the heartbeat during complete heart block, and the annual mortality after a Stokes-Adams attack was 50 per cent. Although external cardiac pacing produced effective cardiac rhythm for prolonged periods, the associated stimulation of skin and skeletal muscle was painful and made recognition of cardiac responses difficult. With the development of transvenous approaches to cardiac pacing, this method was generally abandoned.Although temporary transvenous pacing is well tolerated by patients, it requires considerable skill and time for electrode insertion and is associated with . . .