[Diagnostic problems in the sinus node syndrome].

The sick sinus syndrome includes numerous arrhythmias due to various functional disorders of the sinus node, the atria and the A-V junctional tissue. These disturbances of impulse formation and conduction involve many diagnostic problems. If clinical methods as ECG monitoring are of no help, provocative tests are indicated. The best indirect test of the sinus node activity is the measurement of the sinus node recovery time after overdrive suppression. In addition, the sinu-atrial conduction time, the conduction velocity within the right atrium, the A-V node and the His-Purkinje system can be measured. In patients with the sick sinus syndrome abnormalities of conduction in the specialized cardiac tissue are common in addition to sinus node dysfunction. The results of the provocative tests are important for drug therapy or pacemaker implantation.