Esophageal electrode for recording recipient atrial activity.

Recording of recipient atrial electrical activity may be difficult, and on occasion impossible, on the surface electrocardiogram. A case is described in which distinct recipient atrial activity was recorded in the presence of a donor atrial dysrhythmia using an esophageal electrode. This simple, noninvasive technique is easy to perform and may prove to be extremely useful in the clinical and research electrophysiologic investigation of heart transplant recipients.