Octapolar electrocatheter for His bundle recording and sequential bedside electrophysiologic testing.

To reduce the number of electrocatheters required for an electrophysiologic study and to facilitate prolonged monitoring of the electrical properties of the heart, an octapolar electrocatheter was designed and tested in 45 consecutive patients undergoing routine electrophysiologic studies. The electrocatheter introduced into the right ventricle served for: (a) right ventricular pacing; (b) recording of low lateral and low septal right atrial electrograms; (c) recording of the His bundle potential in 39 out of the 45 patients (86%); (d) 24-hour monitoring of the AV conduction intervals and refractory periods at the patients' bedsides. The octapolar electrocatheter reduced the number of probes required for studying the mechanisms of reciprocating tachycardia and allowed 24-hour bedside electrophysiologic monitoring.