Vulnerability of the right ventricle to cathodal, anodal, and bipolar stimulation at double diastolic threshold strength

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Abstract
The repetitive ventricular response (RVR) to three stimulation techniques (bipolar, cathodal and anodal) was investigated in 35 patients. 26 patients suffered from coronary heart disease and 9 patients from dilative cardiomyopathy. The stimulation study was performed at a ventricular driving rate of 120/min with one and two premature ventricular extrastimuli. We used rectangular impulses of 1.8 ms duration at duable diastolic threshold strength. RVR was scored as follows: 0: no RVR, 1: one nonstimulated RVR, 2: two nonstimulated RVR, 3: three nonstimulated RVR, 4: four to ten nonstimulated RVR, 5: more than ten nonstimulated RVR lasting less than 2 minutes, 6: sustained ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. We found that with unipolar anodal stimulation the diastolic threshold was significantly greater and the effective refractory period of the right ventricle was significantly shorter as compared to the other stimulation techniques. Between the three different electrode configurations there were no significant differences concerning the number of consecutive ventricular depolarizations following premature stimulation. Conclusion: the phenomenon of RVR is not influenced by the stimulation technique (bipolar, cathodal and anodal) at double diastolic threshold.