Taber's Medical Dictionary
pacing
(pās′ing)
[L. passus, a step]
1. Setting the rate or tempo of an event, esp. the heartbeat.
SEE: pacemaker
2. Walking forward and back or side to side without a defined destination.
3. Following prescribed limits on activities, esp. during recovery from an injury.
asynchronous pacing
Cardiac pacing set at a rate independent of the heart's own pacemakers. This allows pacemaking at heart rates that are faster or slower than the patient's diseased pacemaker.
DDD pacing
SEE: DDD pacemaker
diaphragmatic pacing
Controlled electrical stimulation of the muscles of the diaphragm, used to treat hypoventilation syndromes. It may be done directly or indirectly (via stimulation of the phrenic nerve).
epicardial pacing
Electrical pacing of the heart by conductive leads inserted surgically, usually during bypass graft or valvular operations. The leads are used in the postoperative period for the management of heart blocks or dysrhythmias and are removed as the patient stabilizes.
external pacing
external thoracic pacing
gastric pacing
Artificial stimulation of gastrointestinal contractions with an implanted pulse generator. It is used to treat gastric motility disorders and morbid obesity.
SYN: SEE: gastric electrical pacing
gastric electrical pacing
SEE: Gastric pacing.
noninvasive pacing
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.
synchronous pacing
Cardiac pacing set at a rate matching the underlying rate of one of the heart chambers.
transchest pacing
transcutaneous pacing
The application of an electrical current between electrodes placed on the skin to stimulate the heart to beat. Typically, the electrodes are placed on the anterior and posterior chest, or to the right of the sternum and below the clavicle and on the midaxillary line at the level of the sixth to seventh ribs.
SYN: SEE: external pacing; SEE: external thoracic pacing; SEE: noninvasive pacing; SEE: transchest pacing
