Biventricular Pacing After Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (BIVAC)

Patients with severely reduced left ventricular function undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are at an increased perioperative risk and often need prolonged postoperative treatment on intensive care units. A significant portion of these patients require postoperative pacing. Right ventricular pacing has been shown to be hemodynamically deleterious whereas biventricular pacing improves cardiac output in patients with severely reduced left ventricular function and bundle branch block. The purpose of this study is to compare DDD-right ventricular, DDD-biventricular and AAI pacing in CABG patients with an ejection fraction less than 40% in a prospective randomized setting.