[Efficacy of permanent pacing in the management of patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation].

This article reviews recent studies and review articles describing antiarrhythmic effects in cardiac pacing. Initially the incidence of chronic atrial fibrillation in various pacing modes, including the recurrence of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation is discussed. Recent understanding of etiology involving protection against atrial fibrillation are discussed and a new pacing algorithm for overdrive suppression of atrial fibrillation is described. Selection of pacing mode and how to use antiarrhythmic agents during paroxysmal atrial fibrillation including drawbacks of the DDD mode are also discussed. Finally, recent advances in automatic mode switching are reviewed, including a comparative study of automatic switching to various modes during treadmill testing.