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Cardiac (non-arrest)
Electrical capture uncommon in prehospital transcutaneous pacing
Transcutaneous Pacing in the Prehospital Setting – A Retrospective Cohort Study of Electrical Capture
Prehospital Emergency Care · 2026-11-03 · Added 5 November 2026
A US EMS agency reviewed continuous monitor ECGs from 56 patients given prehospital transcutaneous pacing between 2017 and 2024 and found electrical capture in only 32%, often intermittent, with clinician-verbalised pulses coinciding with capture in just 15% of instances.
- Study type
- Cohort
- Design
- Retrospective cohort with continuous ECG review
- Participants
- 56 patients who received prehospital transcutaneous pacing
- Main finding
- Electrical capture in 18/56 (32%); among capturers, complete capture occurred only 27.2% of pacing time; median SBP change +22 mmHg with capture vs 0 mmHg without (p=0.031); clinician-verbalised pulse coincided with electrical capture in only 4/26 (15%) instances
- Caveat
- Single US agency, small sample, and capture judged from monitor recordings rather than patient-centred outcomes
- Bottom line
- Hypothesis-generating
Why it matters in Australia (Medium relevance). Transcutaneous pacing is carried by only a handful of Australian services, so this speaks most directly to the services that pace rather than day-to-day practice everywhere.
Learning goal
Strengthen my judgement on when prehospital transcutaneous pacing is likely to achieve electrical capture and meaningful perfusion.
More
- Topic: Cardiac (non-arrest)
- Daily scan: 5 November 2026
- Podcast: Paramedic Papers Daily, 5 November 2026
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