Persistent atrial standstill following the Cox-maze III procedure: reversal with sustained atrial pacing

Persistent Atrium Standstill Post Atrial Fibrillation Ablation Therapy

Atrial standstill is a rare condition in which the atrium loses its mechanical contraction with or without losing the electrical conduction. In this report, we discuss a case of a 64-year-old male patient with a history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and persistent refractory atrial fibrillation (AF). He underwent ablation therapy with a successful return to sinus rhythm. However, post-procedure echocardiography imaging showed the absence of left atrium mechanical activity. We aim to highlight the importance of assessing atrial mechanical activity by imaging after sinus cardioversion in order to treat any preventable complications promptly.

Persistent atrial standstill following the Cox-maze III procedure: reversal with sustained atrial pacing

Atrial standstill is a rare disorder of cardiac rhythm that is characterized by total absence of electrical activity in one or both atria. We report herein the case of a patient with atrial fibrillation and symptomatic 4.0 s pauses who received a ventricular demand pacemaker. The patient later underwent mitral valve replacement with a pericardial tissue valve and the Cox-maze III procedure for symptomatic mitral stenosis and atrial fibrillation. Following surgery, he developed atrial standstill and became pacemaker dependent. The pacemaker was later revised to an atrioventricular sequential pacemaker. Twelve hours after revision, atrioventricular sequential pacing was noted and mechanical function of the atria was confirmed by Doppler echocardiography.