Myocardial infarction--fusion or confusion?

A patient with a dualchamber pacemaker with dynamic atrioventricular delay (AVD) experienced acute substernal chest pain. The rhythm strip in the ambulance showed intermittent ST elevation in the inferior leads. An emergent cardiac catheterization revealed nonobstructive coronary artery disease. Rate-responsive dual-chamber pacing with dynamic AVD was responsible for varying devvgrees of ventricular fusion due to competition with the patient's normal conduction. Intermittent ST elevation, evident only during ventricular fusion should have suggested secondary ventricular repolarization and not myocardial injury, but concomitant chest pain and inconspicuous bipolar pacing artifacts added to the confusion. Ventricular pacing may not only mask acute ST-T changes due to myocardial injury, but can also mimic acute myocardial infarction.