The use of permanent pacemakers in the detection of cardiac arrhythmias.

AIMS: To compare pacemaker telemetry with simultaneous Holter recordings in the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation and to evaluate the STOP-AF study telemetry criteria for the presence of atrial fibrillation. METHODS AND RESULTS: 18 consecutive patients enrolled in the STOP-AF study had simultaneous 24 h Holter recordings and down-loaded pacemaker telemetry. There was good agreement on heart rate, but the STOP-AF pacemaker criteria achieved only 57% sensitivity with 64% specificity for the presence of atrial fibrillation on Holter recording over 24 h. False-positives appeared to result from far-field sensing while false-negatives occurred with very short episodes of atrial fibrillation. The pacemaker's antitachycardia responses were not specific for the presence of atrial fibrillation. CONCLUSION: Pacemaker telemetry is a potentially important source of data on cardiac arrhythmias. Further studies are required to define the limitations of these data in specific devices before they can be interpreted with confidence.