Abstract
Background: Transvenous lead extraction (TLE) carries a small but measurable risk of serious adverse events. Few studies have examined the potential benefit of continuous monitoring with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) during this procedure. Objective: Evaluate the utility of TEE during TLE involving both conventional and laser lead removal. Methods: TEE was performed in 100 consecutive patients undergoing TLE. All patients underwent TLE in the operating room with general anesthesia and continuous TEE monitoring. TLE was attempted for 193 leads in 100 patients. Eighty patients required laser lead extraction (80%). Indications for extraction were device endocarditis (28), lead fracture (28), recalled lead (21), pocket infection (17), and other (6). Results: Sixty-seven patients were male and the average age was 56.96 +- 17.01 years. The average length since lead implant was 78±55.19 (1.4-274.43) months. Complete success occurred in 181 leads (94%), partial success in 4 leads (2%), and failure in 8 leads (4%). Major complications included right ventricle laceration (1) and right atrium/superior vena cava laceration (2) which resulted in detection and localization within 1-2 minutes and prompt surgical repair. Premature termination and unnecessary surgery were prevented in 4 patients with hypotension but no intracardiac abnormalities seen on TEE (Figure 1). There was one upper gastrointestinal bleed from the TEE probe (1). In-hospital mortality was 0%. Conclusion: In total the clinical management was changed in 7 patients (7%) based on real-time TEE monitoring helping to decrease the TLE related mortality and premature termination of the procedure. Figure 1 Monitoring with real time TEE prevented premature termination of cases with severe hypotension showing RV obstruction due to invagination of the free wall. RA: right atrium; RV: right ventricle.
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