Temporary Pacing in the Correction of Drug-Induced Bradycardia
<i>Objective</i>: to reduce the risk from surgical treatment in geriatric cancer patients with severe concomitant cardiovascular (CV) diseases through the differentiated intra- and postoperative use of pacing technologies for correction of life-threatening cardiac rhythm and conduction disturbances. <i>Subjects and methods. </i>Two hundred and eight patients (mean age 72.0±5.8 years) receiving pulse-reducing cardiotropic therapy to compensate for CV disorders, who had undergone extensive radical surgical interventions for abdominal and small pelvic malignancies of mainly Stage III (mean duration 4.2±1.6 hours) under multimodal general anesthesia, were examined. A pacing technique was chosen depending on the pattern of arrhythmia and antrioventricular (AV) block. <i>Results</i>. During CV therapy, bradycardia at a heart rate of 44 to 57 beats per min was identified in 71 (34.1%) patients. Perioperative pacing correction of bradycardia was required in 58 (27.9%) patients, of them 46 had no AV conduction disturbances, which permitted the use of transesophageal atrial pacing (TEAC). Endocardial pacing was performed in 12 patients with impaired AV conduction and bradysystole in the presence of persistent atrial fibrillation during and early after surgery. In the postoperative period, it was necessary to continue long-term (more than 20 hours) TEAC in the asynchronous mode in 7 patients. Extensive surgical interventions of the planned volume were made in all the patients being examined. None patient had any CV events, including pacing complications. <i>Conclusion</i>. Temporary pacing techniques are effective in correcting critical circulatory disorders during surgical treatment in elderly patients with persistent drug-induced bradycardia when they are treated with cardiotropic drugs.