[Anti-bradycardia ventricle stimulation during the vulnerable phase of the heart cycle in ICD system with DDD cardiac pacemaker function]

We report a case of a 56-year-old white female with an ICD system (Ventak AV, CPI) implanted because of repeated episodes of ventricular fibrillation and preexisting intermittent total AV-block. Several times asynchronic stimulation could be observed in the case of ventricular extrasystole stimulating the ventricle during different times of depolarization. The reason for undersensing of the premature ventricular complexes was a blanking period of 66 ms after atrial stimulation. Therefore, the ICD was not able to sense the ventricular extrasytole and the stimulation of the ventricle occurred during the vulnerable period of the heart cycle. Induction of severe ventricular arrhythmia was not documented. Because of missing programmability of the ventricular blanking period, no possibility of a safety stimulation, and already maximal sensitivity of the ICD, the incidence of these events could only be reduced by increasing the lower rate limit of the pacemaker and suppression of the premature ventricular complexes by medication.