Cardiac Electrophysiology Procedures Research Articles

Feasibility, safety, and efficacy of a novel external compression vascular closure device: The LockeT® study.

Hemostasis following large-bore femoral vein access remains a challenge. Manual compression has been the standard of care but requires bedside staff, prolonged bed rest, and longer length of stay. The LockeT is an external compression device that attempts to address these issues while achieving venous hemostasis. We evaluate postprocedural hemostasis and vascular closure outcomes after using LockeT following cardiac electrophysiologic procedures. We performed a single-center, observational study of patients who underwent vascular closure for electrophysiology procedures using LockeT. Postprocedural outcomes were subsequently analyzed. We studied 102 patients (N) for whom LockeT was used to close 182 separate vascular access sites (n). Common procedures were atrial fibrillation ablation (56.9%, N = 58) and left atrial appendage occlusion (28.4%, N = 29). Most often, 8-Fr [48.3% (n = 126)], 11-Fr [27.2% (n = 71)], and 8.5-Fr [16.9% (n = 44)] sheaths were used, with an average procedure time of 82.1 ± 29.4 min. Hemostasis was achieved in 97.8% (n = 187) of all LockeT cases. Time to ambulation and discharge were 3.93 ± 1.10 hand 8.1 ± 4.4 h, respectively. No major complications were noted. Postprocedurally, 52% (N = 53) of patients were discharged on the same day. There were no differences in hemostasis (p = .859) or ambulation times (p = .202) between procedure types. The LockeT can effectively close venous access sites with no major complications.

Safety and Feasibility of Cardiac Electrophysiology Procedures In Ambulatory Surgery Centers

BACKGROUNDDespite their improved safety, majority of cardiac electrophysiology procedures, including catheter ablation (CA), are presently performed in hospital outpatient departments (HODs). OBJECTIVEThis large, multicenter study investigated the safety and outcomes associated with various cardiac electrophysiology procedures performed at 6 ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), primarily during the COVID-19 pandemic under the CMS Hospitals Without Walls program. METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed the outcomes from consecutive electrophysiology procedures performed in ASCs with same-day discharge, including transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), cardioversion, cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation, electrophysiology studies (EPS), and CA for atrial fibrillation (AF), atrial flutter (AFL)/supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), ventricular premature complexes (VPCs), and AV node. RESULTSAltogether, 4,037 procedures were performed, including 779 TEE/cardioversions (19.3%), 1,453 CIED implants (36.0%), 26 EPS (0.6%), and 1,779 CAs (44.1%) for AF (75.4%), AFL/SVT (18.8%), VPC (4.7%), and AV node (1.1%). Overall, 80.2% of CAs were for left-sided atrial arrhythmias (AF/atypical AFL) requiring transseptal catheterization. Left-sided VPC ablations (42.2%) were performed using a transseptal/retrograde approach. Adverse event rates were low, but comparable between CIED and CA (0.76% vs. 0.73%; P=0.93), as were the incidences of urgent/unplanned post-procedure hospitalization (0.48% vs. 0.45%; P=0.89), respectively. Moreover, the adverse event rates in ASCs versus HODs did not differ for CIED (0.76% vs. 0.65%; P=0.71) or CA (0.73% vs. 0.80%; P=0.79). CONCLUSIONThe results from this large, multicenter study suggest that ASCs represent a safe and effective setting to conduct a variety of cardiac electrophysiology procedures including CA. These findings bear important implications for healthcare delivery and policy.

First experience with a vendor-neutral three-dimensional mapping system for cardiac magnetic resonance-guided electrophysiological procedures: a case report

Abstract Background Fluoroscopy-guided catheter ablation has become the gold standard for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. High resolution electro-anatomical mapping systems have become fundamental to perform these procedures. Recently, interventional cardiac magnetic resonance (iCMR) has been proposed as an alternative for fluoroscopy to guide atrial flutter ablations. The clinical experience with iCMR and dedicated three-dimensional mapping systems is growing. NorthStar is currently the first available vendor-neutral mapping system. Case summary We performed a real-time CMR-guided cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI) catheter ablation (CA) on a 69-year-old man using a novel mapping system (NorthStar Mapping System, Imricor Medical Systems, MN, USA). Starting from the CMR imaging, a pre-rendered segmentation model was loaded on NorthStar and used to guide the catheters, display voltage and activation maps, show mapping and ablation points. NorthStar can also take full control of the CMR scanner (i.e. start/stop sequences for anatomical information, tissue characterization, and catheter visualization) and communicate with the recorder/stimulator system (Advantage-MR EP, Imricor Medical Systems, MN, USA). With comparable procedural time to standard fluoroscopy-guided CA, CTI bidirectional block was achieved, without any complication. Discussion Using the NorthStar Mapping System, we managed to achieve a successful CMR-guided CTI ablation without any complication. Its further use should be explored, especially in more complex arrhythmias where a substrate-guided ablation is critical, as it could significantly improve results in terms of arrhythmia recurrence.

Delineation of intracavitary electrograms for the automatic quantification of decrement-evoked potentials in the coronary sinus with deep-learning techniques.

Cardiac arrhythmias cause depolarization waves to conduct unevenly on the myocardial surface, potentially delaying local components with respect to a previous beat when stimulated at faster frequencies. Despite the diagnostic value of localizing the distinct local electrocardiogram (EGM) components for identifying regions with decrement-evoked potentials (DEEPs), current software solutions do not perform automatic signal quantification. Electrophysiologists must manually measure distances on the EGM signals to assess the existence of DEEPs during pacing or extra-stimuli protocols. In this work, we present a deep learning (DL)-based algorithm to identify decrement in atrial components (measured in the coronary sinus) with respect to their ventricular counterparts from EGM signals, for disambiguating between accessory pathways (APs) and atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardias (AVRTs). Several U-Net and W-Net neural networks with different configurations were trained on a private dataset of signals from the coronary sinus (312 EGM recordings from 77 patients who underwent AP or AVRT ablation). A second, separate dataset was annotated for clinical validation, with clinical labels associated to EGM fragments in which decremental conduction was elucidated. To alleviate data scarcity, a synthetic data augmentation method was developed for generating EGM recordings. Moreover, two novel loss functions were developed to minimize false negatives and delineation errors. Finally, the addition of self-attention mechanisms and their effect on model performance was explored. The best performing model was a W-Net model with 6 levels, optimized solely with the Dice loss. The model obtained precisions of 91.28%, 77.78% and of 100.0%, and recalls of 94.86%, 95.25% and 100.0% for localizing local field, far field activations, and extra-stimuli, respectively. The clinical validation model demonstrated good overall agreement with respect to the evaluation of decremental properties. When compared to the criteria of electrophysiologists, the automatic exclusion step reached a sensitivity of 87.06% and a specificity of 97.03%. Out of the non-excluded signals, a sensitivity of 96.77% and a specificity of 95.24% was obtained for classifying them into decremental and non-decremental potentials. Current results show great promise while being, to the best of our knowledge, the first tool in the literature allowing the delineation of all local components present in an EGM recording. This is of capital importance at advancing processing for cardiac electrophysiological procedures and reducing intervention times, as many diagnosis procedures are performed by comparing segments or late potentials in subsequent cardiac cycles.

Trends in safety of catheter-based electrophysiology procedures in the last 2 decades: A meta-analysis.

Rapid technologic development and expansion of procedural expertise have led to widespread proliferation of catheter-based electrophysiology procedures. It is unclear whether these advances come at cost to patient safety. This meta-analysis aimed to assess complication rates after modern electrophysiology procedures during the lifetime of the procedures. A comprehensive search was performed to identify relevant data published before May 30, 2023. Studies were included if they met the following inclusion criteria: prospective trials or registries, including comprehensive complications data; and patients undergoing atrial fibrillation ablation, ventricular tachyarrhythmia ablation, leadless cardiac pacemaker implantation, and percutaneous left atrial appendage occlusion. Pooled incidences of procedure-related complications were individually assessed by random effects models to account for heterogeneity. Temporal trends in complications were investigated by clustering trials by publication year (2000-2018 vs 2019-2023). A total of 174 studies (43,914 patients) met criteria for analysis: 126 studies of atrial fibrillation ablation (n = 24,057), 25 studies of ventricular tachyarrhythmia ablation (n = 1781), 21 studies of leadless cardiac pacemaker (n = 8896), and 18 studies of left atrial appendage occlusion (n = 9180). The pooled incidences of serious procedure-related complications (3.49% [2000-2018] vs 3.05% [2019-2023]; P < .001), procedure-related stroke (0.46% vs 0.28%; P = .002), pericardial effusion requiring intervention (1.02% vs 0.83%; P = .037), and procedure-related death (0.15% vs 0.06%; P = .003) significantly decreased over time. However, there was no significant difference in the incidence of vascular complications over time (1.86% vs 1.88%; P = .888). Despite an increase in cardiac electrophysiology procedures, procedural safety has improved over time.

OR12-2 | In-Practice Measurement of Radiation Exposure and Protection for (assumed) Pregnant Cardiologists Performing Cardiac Catheterization and Electrophysiology Procedures

OR12-2 | In-Practice Measurement of Radiation Exposure and Protection for (assumed) Pregnant Cardiologists Performing Cardiac Catheterization and Electrophysiology Procedures

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the volume, cost, and outcomes of cardiac electrophysiology procedures in the United States

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, professional societies recommended deferral of elective procedures for optimal resource utilization. ObjectiveWe sought to assess changes in procedural trends and outcomes of electrophysiology (EP) procedures during the pandemic. MethodsNational Inpatient Sample databases were used to identify all EP procedures performed in the United States (2016–2020) by International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes. We evaluated trends in utilization, cost/revenue, and outcomes from EP procedures performed. ResultsAn estimated 1.35 million EP procedures (82% devices and 18% catheter ablations) were performed (2016–2020) with significant yearly uptrend. During the pandemic, there was a substantial decline in EP procedure utilization from a 5-year peak of 298 cases/million population in the second quarter of 2019 to a nadir of 220 cases in the second quarter of 2020. In 2020, the pandemic was associated with the loss of 50,233 projected EP procedures (39,337 devices and 10,896 ablations) with subsequent revenue loss of $7.06 billion. This deficit was driven by revenue deficit from dual-chamber permanent pacemaker (PPM) utilization ($2.88 billion, 49.3% of lost cases), ablation procedures ($1.84 billion, 21.7% of lost cases), and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation ($1.36 billion, 12.0% of lost cases). To the contrary, there was a 9.4% increase in the utilization of leadless PPM. EP device implantation during the pandemic was associated with higher adverse in-hospital events (9.4% vs 8.0%; P < .001). ConclusionIn the United States, the significant decline in EP procedures during the pandemic was primarily driven by the reduction in dual-chamber PPM utilization, followed by arrhythmia ablation and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation. There was a substantial increase in leadless PPM utilization during the pandemic.

Kiosk 10R-TC-07 - First Experience with a Novel Three-dimensional Mapping System for Cardiac Magnetic Resonance-guided Electrophysiological Procedures

Kiosk 10R-TC-07 - First Experience with a Novel Three-dimensional Mapping System for Cardiac Magnetic Resonance-guided Electrophysiological Procedures

Regional anesthesia in cardiac surgery and electrophysiology procedures

Regional anesthesia in cardiac surgery and electrophysiology procedures

Morphological and morphometric study of pulmonary vein anatomy in relation to cardiac invasive and electrophysiological procedures.

Pulmonary veins (PVs) and their myocardial sleeves play an important role in the development of atrial fibrillation. Hence, detailed knowledge of PV anatomy is required to improve the procedural success rate and prevent complications during cardiac procedures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the PV anatomy along with anatomical variations in the Indian population. Total 100 formalin fixed cadaveric hearts were examined. The number and pattern of the PVs were observed along with the measurement of their horizontal and vertical diameters. The ovality index for each PV was calculated. Classical PV pattern was observed in 62% cases. Variant pattern like additional right middle PV pattern and left common PV pattern were found in 20% and 10% cases respectively. A separate pattern with presence of both right middle PV and left common PV was observed in 6% cases. In the classical pattern right superior PV was the largest followed by right inferior, left superior and left inferior PV. The additional right middle PV had the smallest diameter whereas the left common PV had the largest diameter. Almost all the veins had greater vertical diameters in comparison to horizontal diameters. The variant PVs were oval and had greater ovality index compared to the normal PVs. In classical pattern 54.8% hearts whereas in variant pattern 79% hearts had one or more oval PV. The given data can help clinicians for planning and execution of various interventional and electrophysiological procedures involving PVs.

Real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance-guided radiofrequency ablation: A comprehensive review.

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging could enable major advantages when guiding in real-time cardiac electrophysiology procedures offering high-resolution anatomy, arrhythmia substrate, and ablation lesion visualization in the absence of ionizing radiation. Over the last decade, technologies and platforms for performing electrophysiology procedures in a CMR environment have been developed. However, performing procedures outside the conventional fluoroscopic laboratory posed technical, practical and safety concerns. The development of magnetic resonance imaging compatible ablation systems, the recording of high-quality electrograms despite significant electromagnetic interference and reliable methods for catheter visualization and lesion assessment are the main limiting factors. The first human reports, in order to establish a procedural workflow, have rationally focused on the relatively simple typical atrial flutter ablation and have shown that CMR-guided cavotricuspid isthmus ablation represents a valid alternative to conventional ablation. Potential expansion to other more complex arrhythmias, especially ventricular tachycardia and atrial fibrillation, would be of essential impact, taking into consideration the widespread use of substrate-based strategies. Importantly, all limitations need to be solved before application of CMR-guided ablation in a broad clinical setting.

Robotic-Assisted Solutions for Invasive Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery and Routine On-Ward Tasks: A Narrative Review.

Robots are defined as programmable machines that can perform specified tasks. Medical robots are emerging solutions in the field of cardiology leveraging recent technological innovations of control systems, sensors, actuators, and imaging modalities. Robotic platforms are successfully applied for percutaneous coronary intervention, invasive cardiac electrophysiology procedures as well as surgical operations including minimally invasive aortic and mitral valve repair, coronary artery bypass procedures, and structural heart diseases. Furthermore, machines are used as staff-assisting tools to support nurses with repetitive clinical duties i.e., food delivery. High precision and resolution allow for excellent maneuverability, enabling the performance of medical procedures in challenging anatomies that are difficult or impossible using conventional approaches. Moreover, robot-assisted techniques protect operators from occupational hazards, reducing exposure to ionizing radiation, and limiting risk of orthopedic injuries. Novel automatic systems provide advantages for patients, ensuring device stability with optimized utilization of fluoroscopy. The acceptance of robotic technology among healthcare providers as well as patients paves the way for widespread clinical application in the field of cardiovascular medicine. However, incorporation of robotic systems is associated with some disadvantages including high costs of installation and expensive disposable instrumentations, the need for large operating room space, and the necessity of dedicated training for operators due to the challenging learning curve of robotic-assisted interventional systems.

Predictors of morbidity and in-hospital mortality following procedure-related cardiac tamponade.

Cardiac tamponade (CT) can be a complication following invasive cardiac procedures. We assessed CT following common cardiac electrophysiology (EP) procedures to facilitate risk prediction of associated morbidity and in-hospital mortality. Patients who underwent various EP procedures in the cardiac catheterization lab (ablations and device implantations) were identified using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth and Tenth Edition, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM, respectively) from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. Patient demographics, presence of comorbidities, CT-related events, and in-hospital death were also abstracted from the NIS database. The frequency of CT-related events in patients with EP intervention from 2010 to 2017 ranged from 3.4% to 7.0%. In-hospital mortality related to CT-related events was found to be 2.2%. Increasing age was the only predictor of higher mortality in atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) groups (OR [95% CI]: AF ablation = 11.15 [1.70-73.34], p = .01; CRT = 1.41 [1.05-1.90], p = .02). In the real-world setting, CT-related events in EP procedures were found to be 3.4%-7.0% with in-hospital mortality of 2.2%. Older patients undergoing AF ablation were found to have higher mortality.

Payer-Negotiated Prices for Cardiac Electrophysiology Procedures at 2022-2023 Top 100 US News & World Report for Cardiology and Heart Surgery Hospitals.

Payer-Negotiated Prices for Cardiac Electrophysiology Procedures at 2022-2023 Top 100 US News & World Report for Cardiology and Heart Surgery Hospitals.

Iatrogenic Atrioventricular Block.

Iatrogenic atrioventricular (AV) block can occur in the context of cardiac surgery, percutaneous transcatheter, or electrophysiologic procedures. In cardiac surgery, patients undergoing aortic and/or mitral valve surgery are at the highest risk for developing perioperative AV block requiring permanent pacemaker implantation. Similarly, patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement are also at increased risk for developing AV block. Electrophysiologic procedures, including catheter ablation of AV nodal re-entrant tachycardia, septal accessory pathways, para-Hisian atrial tachycardia, or premature ventricular complexes, are also associated with risk of AV conduction system injury. In this article, we summarize the common causes for iatrogenic AV block, predictors for AV block, and general management considerations.

Use of a mixed reality system for navigational mapping during cardiac electrophysiological testing does not prolong case duration: A subanalysis from the Cardiac Augmented REality study

CommandEP™ is a mixed reality (MXR) system for cardiac electrophysiological (EP) procedures that provides a real-time 3-dimensional digital image of cardiac geometry and catheter locations. In a previous study, physicians using the system demonstrated improved navigational accuracy. This study investigated the impact of the CommandEP system on EP procedural times compared to the standard-of-care electroanatomic mapping system (EAMS) display. The purpose of this retrospective case-controlled analysis was to evaluate the impact of a novel MXR interface on EP procedural times compared to a case-matched cohort. Cases from the Cardiac Augmented REality (CARE) study were matched for diagnosis and weight using a contemporary cohort. Procedural time was compared from the roll-in and full implementation cohort. During routine EP procedures, operators performed tasks during the postablation waiting phase, including creation of cardiac geometry and 5-point navigation under 2 conditions: (1) EAMS first; and (2) CommandEP. From a total of 16 CARE study patients, the 10 full implementation patients were matched to a cohort of 20 control patients (2 controls:1 CARE, matched according to pathology and age/weight). No statistical difference in total case times between CARE study patients vs control group (118 ± 29 minutes vs 97 ± 20 minutes; P = .07) or fluoroscopy times (6 ± 4 minutes vs 7 ± 6 minutes; P = .9). No significant difference in case duration for CARE study patients comparing roll-in vs full-implementation cohort (121 ± 26 minutes vs 118 ± 29 minutes; P = .96). CommandEP wear time during cases was significantly longer in full implementation cases (53 ± 24 minutes vs 24 ± 5 minutes; P = .0009). During creation of a single cardiac geometry, no significant time difference was noted between CommandEP vs EAMS (284 ± 45 seconds vs 268 ± 43 seconds; P = .1) or fluoroscopy use (9 ± 19 seconds vs 6 ± 18 seconds; P = .25). During point navigation tasks, there was no difference in total time (CommandEP 31 ± 14 seconds vs EAMS 28 ± 15 seconds; P = .16) or fluoroscopy time (CommandEP 0 second vs EAMS 0 second). MXR did not prolong overall procedural time compared to a matched cohort. There was no prolongation in study task completion time. Future studies with experienced CommandEP users directly assessing procedural time and task completion time in a randomized study population would be of interest.

Contemporary trends in cardiac electrophysiology procedures in the United States, and impact of a global pandemic.

There are limited data on trends in nationwide cardiac electrophysiology (EP) procedures in the United States before and during the global COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to understand contemporary EP procedural trends and how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted them. Trends were obtained from publicly reported Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data from 2013 to 2020 (latest available). Rates of catheter-based EP procedures (EP studies and ablations) and cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) procedures were analyzed. All procedural rates were calculated per 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries (year specific). Procedure physician subspecialty was also reported. From 2013 to 2019, annual rate of all cardiac EP procedures increased from 817.91 to 1089.68 per 100,000 beneficiaries. Catheter-based EP procedures increased from 323.73 to 675.01, while CIED rates decreased from 494.18 to 414.67. While all ablation procedures increased over time, relative proportion of ablation procedures being pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) increased (9.9% of ablations in 2013, to 18.2% in 2019). In 2020, rates of both catheter-based EP procedures and CIED procedures decreased; however, PVI share of ablation continued to increase in 2020 comprising 25.2% of ablation procedures. Rates of EP procedures have increased among Medicare beneficiaries, with catheter-based procedures now eclipsing CIEDs. Additionally, a greater proportion of catheter-based EP procedures are PVI, but they still represent a minority of all ablations. In 2020, rates of EP procedures were attenuated, yet the proportion of PVI ablations increased to over one-fourth of ablation procedures. These data have important implications for the EP workforce.

Ultrasound-guided vascular access for CIED implantation: A step-by-step guide.

Vascular access is required for most cardiac electrophysiology procedures. Over the past 2 decades, ultrasound guidance has increased in utilization as the primary method for assisting operators in gaining access to cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation. Ultrasound guidance using a technique that includes both short-axis and long-axis views combined with a twisting needle motion after maximal tenting provides an extremely safe and reproducible technique for vascular access for all CIED procedures. In this manuscript and accompanying videos, a step-by-step guide is explained for optimal ultrasound-guided visualization and needle maneuver technique to maximize safety and efficiency for vascular access in all CIED procedures.

Abstract 14277: Comparison of Three Vascular Closure Devices for Vascular Access Closure After Cardiac Electrophysiology Procedures

Introduction: Vascular closure devices are commonly used for EP procedures to achieve rapid hemostasis. Different devices using different mechanisms of action are available, but the potential contribution of each type to the incidence of vascular complications is not clear. Methods: This is a single center, prospective study in which 138 contemporaneous patients undergoing EP procedures were categorized according to the vascular closure device type used: Vascade (collagen plug, n=57), Perclose (suture, n=41), and SiteSeal (external compression, n=40). The primary endpoint was access-related major vascular complications. Secondary endpoints included time to ambulation and delayed access-site bleeding requiring additional manual pressure. Results Mean age and BMI 68±11 years and 29.7±6.2 Kg/m 2 , 46 (33%) were female, 121 (88%) were on uninterrupted antithrombotic therapy (71% OAC, 14% OAC/APLT, 3% APLT). Femoral vein access was obtained in all, bilaterally in 113 (82%), with a mean of 3±1 access sites per patient and a sheath size ranging from 6- to 23-Fr. Femoral arterial access was obtained in 14 (10%), once per patient, with a sheath size ranging from 5- to 8-Fr. There were no arterial access complications. On the venous side, hematomas occurred in 3/57 (5%) of the Vascade group, 1/41 (2%) of the Perclose group, and 0/40 (0%) of the SiteSeal group (p=ns for all comparisons). Delayed access-site bleeding occurred in 5/57 (9%) of the Vascade group, 5/41 (12%) of the Perclose group, and 7/40 (18%) of the SiteSeal group (p=ns for all comparisons). Time to ambulation was comparable between groups (minutes: 139±51 Vascade, 137±34 Perclose, 123±11 SiteSeal, p=ns). Conclusion Vascade, Perclose, and SiteSeal are comparable in term of vascular complications and time to ambulation for patients undergoing EP procedures.

Abstract 11040: Disparities in Inpatient Intensity of End-of-Life Care for Children With Advanced Heart Disease

Introduction: Children dying of advanced heart disease experience high intensity end-of-life care (EOLC). However, little is known about disparities in EOLC intensity, which is critical for EOLC equity. Methods: We conducted a population-based retrospective analysis using the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development private inpatient discharge database to assess disparities in inpatient EOLC intensity by examining the terminal admission for children (0-21y) with cardiomyopathy and moderate/complex congenital heart disease (CHD) who died in 2005-2018. We examined rates of medical intensity (intubation, CPR, etc.) and cardiac intensity (ECMO, ventricular assist device interventions, other cardiac surgeries, or ≥ 2 cardiac catheterization, biopsy, or electrophysiology procedures). Clinical and sociodemographic factors, including death at a California Children’s Services designated cardiac special care center, associated with medical intensity and cardiac intensity were examined. Results: The 2,794 children died and 76% were &lt; 1 year old. Of them, 26% had cardiomyopathy, 44% moderate CHD, and 46% complex CHD. The majority were male (55%) and publicly insured (64%). The largest racial/ethnic group was Hispanic (50%) followed by non-Hispanic white (26%). Mean length of terminal admission was 31±50d, and 82% died at a cardiac special care center. During the terminal admission, the majority (79%) were intubated, 39% had cardiac surgery, 30% received ECMO, 28% received CPR, and 42% had a cardiac intensity marker. Black children and children with cardiomyopathy were less likely to have a cardiac intensity marker (aOR=0.6 [95% CI: 0.39-0.91]; reference, non-Hispanic white, aOR=0.46 [95% CI: 0.34-0.61]; reference, moderate CHD, respectively). Children who died at a cardiac special care center were more likely to have a cardiac intensity marker (aOR=6.79 [95% CI: 4.95-9.32]; reference, non-specialty center). Conclusion: Children with advanced heart disease in California exhibited high intensity EOLC with significant sociodemographic variation. It is critical to determine if this variation represents patient preferences, provider biases, or systemic factors such as resource availability.