Simulation of AV hysteresis pacing using an integrated dual chamber heart and pacer model

Long term right ventricular apical pacing has been known to have adverse effects in cardiac function. The AV hysteresis (AVH) is a feature existing in many dual-chamber cardiac pacemakers that aims to minimize the right ventricular pacing, but its clinical efficacy remains inconclusive due to conflicting evidence from different studies. We have recently developed a novel integrated dual-chamber heart and pacer (IDHP) model, which can simulate various interactions between intrinsic heart activity and extrinsic cardiac pacing. In this study, we use the IDHP model to simulate various atrio-ventricular (AV) conduction pathologies, and to investigate the effects of an AVH algorithm on reducing right ventricular pacing. Our results show that the efficacy of AVH is dependent on the underlying cardiac conditions. While it can preserve intrinsic conduction during minor or moderate first degree AV block, its efficacy is reduced at higher degree AV block conditions. This pilot study further supports using the IDHP model to design and evaluate more advanced pacemaker algorithms for therapeutic interventions.