HONG KONG, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- A novel way of implanting pacemakers by inserting the pacing leads to both ventricles, compared with the traditional method of inserting the leads to the right side heart chambers, reduces risks of heart failure, a study has found.

    Yu Cheuk-man, a professor of cardiology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said on Tuesday that he conducted a clinical trial from 2005 to 2009 to test whether the novel biventricular pacing can reduce risks of heart failure.

    Implantation of pacemakers has been the standard treatment for patients with slow heart rate. The traditional method is inserting the pacing leads to the right side heart chambers, that is, the right atrium and the right ventricle, and the leads are then connected to a pacemaker placed beneath the skin in the chest wall.

    However, several studies in recent years have shown that the traditional pacing method may lead to worsening of function in the left ventricle, which is responsible for pumping blood to all the major organs, Yu said.

    It further leads to deterioration of the pump function and, eventually, heart failure and higher rate of mortality.

    A previous study has observed that 26 percent of the patients who had received right ventricular pacing had developed heart failure during long-term follow-up, Yu said.

    Yu, who heads the Division of Cardiology of Department of Medicine and Therapeutics and the Institute of Vascular Medicine at the university, conducted the clinical study with 177 patients with slow heart rate, who were randomized to either biventricular or right ventricular pacing.

    Significant deterioration of left ventricular pump function and chamber enlargement were observed in the group of patients who had received right ventricular pacing. Such adverse effects were not so obviously observed in the other group.

    "The result of the PACE study implicates the use of this new pacing method to prevent the development of future heart failure," the Chinese University of Hong Kong said in a press release, citing the finding of Yu.

    "The encouraging results from PACE study may revolutionize current clinical practice" by establishing the biventricular pacing method and is particularly significant to those at risk of developing heart failure, it added.

    The finding has been announced at the annual scientific meeting of the American Heart Association in November and published in the November issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.