Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Removal Research Articles

Abstract 15982: Management and Follow-Up of Inpatients With Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices and Bacteremia With and Without Electrophysiology Consultation

Introduction: Transvenous cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) infection is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Expert consensus recommends a multidisciplinary approach to bacteremia in the context of CIED incorporating both infectious disease (ID) and electrophysiology (EP) consultation to balance the risks of infection with those of CIED removal. Hypothesis: Not all patients with CIEDs and bacteremia are evaluated with EP consultation, and this difference is associated with variability in management. Methods: Using the EMR, we retrospectively identified inpatients with a CIED and a positive blood culture across three hospitals: one academic, one specialty and one community. True infection versus contaminant was determined by an EP or ID attending at the time of presentation or adjudicated retrospectively by an EP who performs extractions. We examined the rates of EP consultation based on hospital site, CIED removal and appropriate follow-up in those without CIED removal. Fisher’s exact test was used to compare the rates of follow up. Results: We identified 88 inpatients with a CIED and positive blood culture between January 2020 - February 2023. True bacteremia was adjudicated in 48 patients (55%). Of these patients, 24 were seen by EP (50%), 22 were seen by EP and ID (46%), and 14 were seen by neither (29%). Patients admitted to an academic hospital were more likely to be seen by EP (22/38, 57%) than those admitted to a specialty or community hospital (2/10, 20%). CIED removal was performed in 15 of 24 patients seen by EP (63%). Patients seen by EP were significantly more likely to have documented plans, repeat blood cultures after antibiotic completion, and appropriate follow up than those not seen by EP (24/24 100% vs. 3/24, 8%, p<0.001). Conclusion: Even at a high-volume extraction center, EP consultation for patients with true bacteremia in the context of CIED only occurred 50% of the time. Patients admitted to an academic hospital were more likely to be seen by EP than at a community or subspecialty hospital. EP consultation is important for all bacteremic patients with CIEDs, not only to recommend extraction if appropriate, but also to ensure timely follow-up and management of treatment failure, consistent with expert consensus.

Experience of cardiac implantable electronic device lead removal from a South African tertiary referral centre.

The rate of cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation in low- and middle-income countries is increasing. Patients recieving these devices are frequently older and with multiple co-morbidities, which may later lead to complications requiring CIED removal. CIED removals are associated with life-threatening complications. However, high sucesss rates are reported in high-income countries. The purpose of this study was to report on the experience of CIED removal in a resource-constrained setting. In this retrospective study, we included consecutive adult patients admitted to Groote Schuur Hospital and the University of Cape Town Private Academic Hospital for CIED removal from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2019. During the study period, 53 patients underwent CIED removal (26 extractions and 27 explants). The patients had a mean (standard deviation) age of 59.1 (16.0) years. A history of systemic hypertension was present in 50.9% of patients, diabetes mellitus in 30.2% and dilated cardiomyopathy in 47.2%. Complete heart block was the leading indication for CIED implantation (37.7%), and device infection was the leading indication for removal (69.2%). CIEDs were removed after a median (interquantile range) of 243 (53-831) days. There were 40 leads extracted and 35 explants. Lead extractions were perfomed in the cardiac catheterisation laboratory under general anaesthesia via a percutaneous transvenous superior approach. There was one major and one minor complication related to lead extraction. CIED infections were the primary indication for CIED removal in a tertiary referral centre in South Africa. Despite being a low-volume centre, we report a high percutaneous transvenous extraction success rate with low complication rate; results which are comparable to high-volume centres.

Abstract 17088: In-Hospital Complications and Outcomes of Leadless Pacemaker Implantation: A Propensity-Score Matched Analysis From Nationwide Database

Introduction: There are no randomized controlled trials that compared the outcomes of leadless pacemaker (L-PPM) implantation with transvenous pacemaker (TV-PPM) and there is scarcity of data on real world outcomes. Methods: We queried National Inpatient Sample to identify all adult patients who had primary discharge diagnosis of conduction disorders or tachy-arrhythmias and excluded patients who had a concomitant procedure for valve replacement, coronary artery bypass grafting, ablation and/or cardiac implantable electronic device removal so that complications can be attributed to the pacemaker implantation. We included only procedures from November 2016 to December 2017 as Micra was the only available L-PPM during that period. For the comparison cohort we selected patients, during the same time period, who had a procedure code for single chamber pacemaker implantation in conjunction with right ventricular lead placement. We performed 1:1 propensity score matching and the variables used for matching are marked with asterisk in Table 1. All the codes used to identify complications has been previously validated from the Micra Post-approval registry and Coverage with Evidence Study. Results: Total of 1,305 patients for L-PPM and 13,905 patients in the TV-PPM group were included. Baseline characteristics with standardized mean difference before and after matching are shown in Table 1. Briefly, patients in L-PPM group were younger but had higher co-morbidities compared to TV-PPM group. The complications before and after matching are shown in Table 2. Conclusions: In conclusion, we found no significant difference between in-hospital complications after propensity score matching, with the exception of deep venous thrombosis. There was no difference between length of stay but cost for L-PPM was significantly higher. In this real-world analysis, we found that the leadless PPM implantation is safe in comparison to transvenous PPM.

Use of a clot aspiration system during transvenous lead extraction.

The optimal approach to the extraction of leads with large vegetations remains uncertain. High-risk patients with lead associated vegetations undergoing device extraction at Vanderbilt Hospital with concomitant use of the Penumbra Aspiration System (Penumbra Inc, Alameda, CA) are described. An 8.5 Fr Agilis NXT (Abbott Inc, St. Paul, MN) was advanced to the right atrium, through which a Penumbra Indigo Cat-8 catheter was advanced. Using intracardiac echocardiography, the Penumbra was positioned directly on the vegetation, suction was applied until adherent, and the Indigo catheter and Agilis sheath were then removed en-bloc and aspirated debris flushed out. This was repeated until debulking was considered successful. Eight cases were performed. The median vegetation size was 2 cm. Pathogens were Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, Candida, Cutibacterium, and Enterobacter. In seven of eight cases, aspiration successfully reduced vegetations to less than 1 cm before successful percutaneous cardiac implantable electronic device removal. One patient underwent surgical removal via thoracotomy. There were no acute complications related to the Penumbra catheter. Three patients had CT evidence of small pulmonary emboli postprocedure. The length of stay was 3 to 27 days. One patient died on POD 1 of refractory ventricular tachycardia unrelated to the procedure. One patient died of ongoing sepsis 2 weeks postextraction. The Penumbra Indigo Aspiration system can be useful for vegetation debulking before transvenous lead extraction.

Retained pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator components after heart transplantation are common and may lead to adverse events

Many patients have a cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) extracted at the time of heart transplantation. CIED components may be retained after heart transplantation, but their frequency, nature, and clinical significance is uncertain. Consecutive patients that underwent heart transplantation over 10 years from 1 January 2007 until 1 January 2017 were identified from the unit database. Pre- and post-operative chest radiographs were reviewed by two independent observers for the presence of CIED components. Adverse events relating to any retained CIED component were recorded. Two hundred and six patients had a CIED removed at the time of transplantation. Retained CIED components were present in 86 (42%) patients. The most common retained CIED components were suture sleeves and superior vena cava (SVC) coils of dual coil implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) leads. An SVC coil was retained in 25% of patients that had a dual coil ICD lead. Seven adverse events were associated with CIED removal or retained CIED components, including one fatal event. However, retained CIED components were not associated with reduced long-term survival after heart transplantation. Retained CIED components were seen in 42% of patients that had a CIED prior to transplantation, may be associated with serious adverse events but are not associated with reduced long-term survival. Cardiac surgeons should be aware of all CIED system components and be familiar with techniques for their complete removal at the time of transplantation.

Cardiac implantable electronic device removal in patients with left ventricular assist device associated infections.

Heart failure patients with left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are at risk for infection. Cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) are commonly present in these patients. The course of infections in patients with an LVAD and a CIED is not well described. We identified 6 patients with a durable LVAD that underwent CIED removal because of an LVAD associated infection (LVADI). Patient and infection characteristics, management strategy, and clinical outcomes are described. All 6 patients were male, and the mean age was 59.6 years (range 43-72). Four of 6 patients had an ischemic cardiomyopathy, and 3 patients were diabetic. The median creatinine clearance for patients was 40.5 mg/dL (range 19-65). Five of 6 patients had a continuous flow LVAD placed as destination therapy. Four of 6 patients had a previous LVADI managed medically before the current infection leading to CIED removal. The indication for CIED removal was a bloodstream infection in 5 of 6 patients. Three of these patients had potential vegetations identified by echocardiography on device leads. The mean implanted age of the removed leads was 62 months (range 1-179), and 1 of the 6 patients experienced a procedural complication (hematoma) from CIED removal. Four of 6 patients that underwent CIED removal for an LVADI had recurrence of infection. Five of 6 patients died during the initial presentation or from repeat presentation for infection. Despite CIED removal for an LVADI, recurrent infections are common and mortality remains high.