Echocardiography induced tachycardia in a patient with a minute ventilation rate responsive pacemaker.

We report a case of a 57 year-old man with a minute ventilation rate-response pacemaker and an inappropriate increase in his heart rate during a transthoracic echocardiography study. The increase in heart rate was due to interference between echocardiography and minute ventilation sensor. This was confirmed by a repeat echocardiogram, which reproduced the same effect and turning off the minute ventilation sensor stopped the tachycardia. We suggest that deactivating the minute ventilation sensor would avoid this interaction and electrophysiologists should be aware of this unusual electromagnetic interference phenomenon.