Conduction System Pacing in Pediatrics and Congenital Heart Disease, a Single Center Series of 24 Patients.

Abstract

His-bundle pacing has demonstrated feasibility in numerous adult studies to reverse and prevent pacing-induced cardiomyopathy, however, is met with higher capture thresholds with deployment sheaths designed for adults with his-bundles in the typical location. To describe 24 pediatric and adult congenital patients post-physiologic pacing. Patients at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital with congenital complete heart block or congenital heart disease and atrioventricular block presented for pacemaker placement between November 2019 and January 2021. Twenty-four patients had attempted his-bundle placement using either Medtronic's C315 or C308 sheaths and 3830 leads except for 3 patients who had Boston Scientific's His system with the Shape 3 sheath and 7842 leads. Twenty-four total patients underwent physiologic pacing (23 his-bundle, 13 female, 11 male) with median age of 14years (range 8-39years) with median weight of 51kg (range 21.2-81kg) with five right-sided implants performed. Twelve patients had congenital heart disease including atrioventricular canal defects, tetralogy of Fallot, and ventricular septal defect repairs (nine patients with ventricular septal defect repairs). Twelve patients had selective His-bundle pacing (six with congenital heart disease). Median threshold to capture was 0.5V at 0.4ms (range 0.4 to 1.1V at 0.4ms), impedance 570ohms (range 456-1140ohms), and sensing median of 9.7mV (range 1.5-13.8mV if present). The median follow-up time was 610days (range 240-760days). No complications occurred peri-procedurally or during follow-up. His-bundle pacing is feasible in pediatric and congenital heart disease patients.