pacing

pacing /pac·ing/ (pās´ing) setting of the pace.

---

asynchronous pacing  cardiac pacing in which impulse generation by the pacemaker occurs at a fixed rate, independent of underlying cardiac activity.

burst pacing  overdrive p.

cardiac pacing  regulation of the rate of contraction of the heart muscle by an artificial cardiac pacemaker.

coupled pacing  a variation of paired pacing in which the patient's natural depolarization serves as the first of the two stimuli, with the second induced by an artificial cardiac pacemaker.

diaphragm pacing , diaphragmatic pacing electrophrenic respiration.

overdrive pacing  the process of increasing the heart rate by means of an artificial cardiac pacemaker in order to suppress certain arrhythmias.

paired pacing  cardiac pacing in which two impulses are delivered to the heart in close succession, to slow tachyarrythmias and to improve cardiac performance.

ramp pacing  cardiac pacing in which stimuli are delivered at a rapid but continually altering rate, either from faster to slower (rate decremental or tune down), from fast to faster (cycle length decremental or ramp up), or in some cyclic combination of increasing and decreasing rates; used to control tachyarrhythmias.

synchronous pacing  cardiac pacing in which information about sensed activity in one or more cardiac chambers is used to determine the timing of impulse generation by the pacemaker.

underdrive pacing  a method for terminating certain tachycardias by means of slow asynchronous pacing at a rate not an even fraction of the tachycardia rate.

---

pacing

Etymology: L, passus, step

setting of the heart's rhythm by the sinus node, by another site in the heart, or by an artificial electrical stimulator. Also called atrial pacing, endocardial pacing, sequential pacing, ventricular pacing. See also programmable pacemaker.

---

pacing

1. normal gait of some horses. See pace.

2. stereotyped pacing; a habit in all caged animals, especially if they are active species and are confined in very small areas. May cause excessive wear in footpads, in snakes the damage is usually to the front of the head.

3. setting the pace or rate of movement. See cardiac pacing.

---

pacing

Cardiology The timing of a physiologic event. See Burst pacing, Demand pacing, DDDR pacing, Dual-chamber pacing, Overdrive pacing, Physiologic pacing, Ramp pacing, Rate responsive pacing, Safety pacing, Transvenous pacing, Underdrive pacing.