Indication of permanent pacing after acute myocardial infarction complicated by combined intraventricular block.

A total of 63 patients with combined intraventricular block with a 60.3% mortality were found among 725 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with a 20.5% mortality. 25 patients with combined intraventricular blocks survived the hospitalization period--permanent pacing having been introduced in 11 of them. The mean survival time in them was 21.7 months. There were 3 deaths (27.3%), none of them sudden. The remaining 14 patients without pacing survived for a mean period of 15.9 months, with 7 deaths (50%), four of which could be designed as sudden. The authors conclude that permanent pacing "on demand" is indicated in all patients surviving the hospitalization period after AMI complicated by advanced a-v block and after anterior AMI following an older MI with new bilateral His bundle branch block.