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A Comparative Study of Five Transcutaneous Pacing Devices in Unanesthetized Human Volunteers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Michael B. Heller ,
Joseph Peterson ,
Keveh Ilkahpamipour ,
Richard Kaplan  and
Paul M. Paris
Michael B. Heller*
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
Joseph Peterson
Affiliation:
Affiliated Residency in Emergency Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
Keveh Ilkahpamipour
Affiliation:
Affiliated Residency in Emergency Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
Richard Kaplan
Affiliation:
Center for Emergency Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Paul M. Paris
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
*

University of Pittsburgh, 230 McKee Place, Suite 500, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

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Extract

Transcutaneous Pacing (TCP) is a rapidly applied “non-invasive” technique that can be used successfully in the hospital, emergency department or field setting (1–9). Although the technique has been studied for three decades (7), it is only in the last few years that commercial units have been widely available. Improvements in pad design (particularly the development of non-metallic electrodes) and pulse characteristics (a pulse width of greater than 20 msec.) have allowed the development of units which may provide high capture rates with a level of discomfort which is tolerable in the conscious patient. Transcutaneous pacing may obviate the need for emergency transvenous pacing; further, it is easily adaptable to the field setting although early application appears to be needed for success (1,2).

No study has compared the relative effectiveness of different TCP units, and there are no published data on some of the devices. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the functions of five different external pacemaker units on ten volunteers, in order to determine: 1) what percent of subjects could be captured within the limits of tolerability (the capture rate); 2) how much current was required by each unit to capture (the capture threshold); and 3) the degree of discomfort produced by each pacemaker at the capture threshold.

Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , September 1989 , pp. 15 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1989

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Footnotes

Presented at UAEMS Philadelphia, pa. 1987

References

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