Incidence of sleep apnea and association with atrial fibrillation in an unselected pacemaker population: Results of the observational RESPIRE study.

Background: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) often have sleep apnea (SA), but diagnosis of SA with polysomnography is costly. SA monitoring is a pacemaker feature that measures respiratory disturbance index, the sum of abnormal respiratory events divided by sleep duration.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence and severity of SA and its association with AF in an unselected population fitted with pacemakers.

Third-degree atrioventricular block and unusual superior vena cava abnormality.

During the implantation of a definitive pacemaker for complete atrioventricular block via the left subclavian vein, a rare and abnormal origin of the superior vena cava was detected. No such finding has ever been reported, leading us to adopt the contralateral approach.