A new clinical practice guideline on the management of bradycardia and cardiac conduction system disorders in adults emphasizes the importance of patient-centered care and “shared decision-making” between patient and clinician, particularly with regard to patients who have indications for pacemaker implantation.
Shared decision-making extends to the end-of-life setting where “complex” informed consent and refusal of care decisions need to be patient-specific, and must involve all stakeholders, according to the new 2018 guidelines from the American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association (AHA), and Heart Rhythm Society (HRS).
“Patients with decision-making capacity or his/her legally defined surrogate has the right to refuse or request withdrawal of pacemaker therapy, even if the patient is pacemaker dependent, which should be considered palliative, end-of-life care, and not physician-assisted suicide,” the guidelines read.
The guidelines additionally update the evaluation and treatment of sinus node dysfunction, atrioventricular block, and conduction disorders, based in part on a comprehensive evidence review conducted from January to September 2017. They supersede a 2008 guideline from the three societies on device-based therapy of cardiac rhythm abnormalities, and the focused update to that guideline published in 2012.
These guidelines will be useful not only to arrhythmia specialists, but also to internists and family physicians, cardiologists, surgeons, emergency physicians, and anesthesiologists, according to the guideline writing committee, which included representativens of ACC, AHA, HRS, and several other national organizations. The committee included cardiac electrophysiologists, cardiologists, surgeons, an anesthesiologist, and other clinicians, as well as a patient/lay representative, and was chaired by Fred M. Kusumoto, MD, of Mayo Clinic Florida in Jacksonville.
For sinus node dysfunction, no minimum heart rate or pause duration has been determined for which permanent pacing would be recommended, the guidelines state. To determine whether permanent pacing is necessary in those patients, clinicians should work to establish a temporal correlation bewteen bradycardia and symptoms, according to the guideline authors.
Left bundle branch block, when found on echocardiogram, greatly increases the chances of underlying structural heart disease and of a left ventricular systolic dysfunction diagnosis, according to the guidelines, which state that echocardiography is the most appropriate initial screening test for left ventricular systolic dysfunction and other structural heart disease.
Permanent pacing is recommended for certain types of atrioventricular (AV) block, according to the guidelines, which include high-grade AV block, acquired second-degree Mobitz type II AV block, and third-degree AV block not related to reversible or physiologic causes.
Treatment of sleep apnea can reduce frequency of nocturnal bradycardia and may provide a cardiovascular benefit, the guideline authors state. Patients with nocturnal bradycardias should be screened for sleep apnea, though authors cautioned that these arrhythmias are not, in and of themselves, an indication for permanent pacing.
“Treatment decisions are based not only on the best available evidence, but also on the patient’s goals of care and preferences,” Dr. Kusumoto said in a press release jointly issued by the ACC, AHA, and HRS. Toward that end, patients should receive “trusted material” to help them understand the consequences and risks of any proposed management decision.
Emerging pacing technologies such as His bundle pacing and transcatheter leadless pacing systems need more study to determine which patient populations will benefit most from them, the guidelines state.
“Regardless of technology, for the foreseeable future, pacing therapy requires implantation of a medical device,” Dr. Kusumoto said in the release. “Future studies are warranted to focus on the long-term implications associated with lifelong therapy.”
The 2018 ACC/AHA/HRS Guideline on the Evaluation and Management of Patients With Bradycardia and Cardiac Conduction Delay is now published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and simultaneously in the journals Circulation and HeartRhythm.
Dr. Kusumoto reported no relationships with industry or other entities. Guideline co-authors provided disclosures related to Boston Scientific, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic, Daiichi-Sankyo, Sanofi-Aventis, St. Jude Medical, and Abbott, among others.
SOURCE: Kusumoto FM, et al. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2018 Nov 6.