During the past 5 years, the salt-bridge bipolar esophageal lead has proved, in our hands, superior to the unipolar esophageal lead and to body surface leads in the diagnosis of complex and unusual cardiac mechanisms. Technical difficulties, particularly erratic baseline behavior, are greatly minimized by the salt-bridge technique. Properly positioned esophageal leads serve as near-direct leads to the left atrium and thus enlarge the deflection of atrial depolarization.
It is possible, with the bipolar esophageal electrode, to record tracings which show virtual cancellation of the ventricular complexes; by contrast, the enlargement of the atrial deflections is greatly accentuated. Furthermore, this