“Locked-in” sensitivity in the managed ventricular pacing mode

Two cases of “locked-in” sensitivity in the managed ventricular pacing mode are reported. Patient A was a 22-year-old man with a history of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and a prophylactic dual-chamber automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator who manifested paradoxic T-wave oversensing on the ventricular lead at a sensitivity setting of 1.2 mV but not earlier when the sensitivity had been set to 0.9 mV. Patient B was a 74-year-old patient with ischemic cardiomyopathy and a dual-chamber defibrillator who presented with persistent paradoxic undersensing of the P wave on the atrial lead even at the maximal sensitivity of 0.15 mV, although P-wave sensing was normal earlier when sensitivity was set to 0.3 mV. The phenomenon and the mechanism for its behavior are described.