Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Book

Electrophysiologic Testing

In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
.
Affiliations
Free Books & Documents
Book

Electrophysiologic Testing

Alina G. Negru et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

A notable increase in invasive electrophysiological (EP) testing and catheter ablation procedures performed all over the world has been observed over the past twenty-five years. This activity will focus on the indications, technique, and complications of the electrophysiological study (EPS). The EPS is an invasive procedure that needs catheter placement into the right heart via the femoral vein, using the Seldinger technique. The aim is to stimulate the heart using two pacing techniques: extra-stimulus pacing and incremental pacing. The use of extra stimulus pacing reveals the refractory periods, conduction and activation changes, diagnostic for certain diseases. The incremental pacing helps for observing and measuring the impulse conduction during stress conditions and evaluates the recovery time of normal function at the cessation of stimulation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Alina Negru declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Talal Alzahrani declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

References

    1. Sánchez-Quintana D, Cabrera JA, Farré J, Climent V, Anderson RH, Ho SY. Sinus node revisited in the era of electroanatomical mapping and catheter ablation. Heart. 2005 Feb;91(2):189-94. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kottkamp H, Hindricks G, Borggrefe M, Breithardt G. Radiofrequency catheter ablation of the anterosuperior and posteroinferior atrial approaches to the AV node for treatment of AV nodal reentrant tachycardia: techniques for selective ablation of "fast" and "slow" AV node pathways. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 1997 Apr;8(4):451-68. - PubMed
    1. Medkour D, Becker AE, Khalife K, Billette J. Anatomic and functional characteristics of a slow posterior AV nodal pathway: role in dual-pathway physiology and reentry. Circulation. 1998 Jul 14;98(2):164-74. - PubMed
    1. Da Costa A, Mourot S, Roméyer-Bouchard C, Thévenin J, Samuel B, Kihel A, Isaaz K. Anatomic and electrophysiological differences between chronic and paroxysmal forms of common atrial flutter and comparison with controls: Pacing Clin Electrophysiol. 2004 Sep;27(9):1202-11. - PubMed
    1. Brugada J, Katritsis DG, Arbelo E, Arribas F, Bax JJ, Blomström-Lundqvist C, Calkins H, Corrado D, Deftereos SG, Diller GP, Gomez-Doblas JJ, Gorenek B, Grace A, Ho SY, Kaski JC, Kuck KH, Lambiase PD, Sacher F, Sarquella-Brugada G, Suwalski P, Zaza A, ESC Scientific Document Group 2019 ESC Guidelines for the management of patients with supraventricular tachycardiaThe Task Force for the management of patients with supraventricular tachycardia of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Eur Heart J. 2020 Feb 01;41(5):655-720. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources