overdrive pacing


fast pacing

A term defined in the context of implantable pacemakers for the delivery—e.g., atrial burst pacing—of rapid, multiple electrical pulses, to pace the heart faster than its intrinsic rate. Fast pacing is used for ventricular tachycardia, to try to break the tachycardia before it progresses to ventricular fibrillation.

overdrive pacing

Using a pacemaker to generate a heart rate that is faster than the spontaneous heart rate of the patient. This is used in attempts to capture and terminate tachycardias or, in some cases, to try to trigger and study tachycardias in patients who have suffered them in the past. See also: pacing