Impact of Reassessment and Reimplantation Strategies on Clinical Outcome After Transvenous Lead Extraction of Infectious Cardiovascular Implantable Electronic Devices
Objectives:To investigate the impact of reassessment and individualized reimplantation strategies on clinical outcomes in patients with cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) infections following transvenous lead extraction (TLE).Methods:Patients who underwent TLE due to CIED infections at Peking University People's Hospital from January 2015 to January 2021 were included.Reimplantation decisions,including whether to reimplant and the type and location of the new device,were made based on patient history,infection type,and cardiac examination results.The reimplantation rate,device type,implantation site,and complications were recorded and analyzed.Results:A total of 993 patients were included in this study,of which 840 cases (84.6%) were pocket infections.Among the removed devices,827 cases (83.3%) were pacemakers.The clinical success rate of TLE was 98.3% (976 cases),the perioperative mortality rate was 0.9% (9 cases) .Excluding the perioperative death cases,out of 984 survived patients after reassessment,186 patients (18.9%) had no indication for reimplantation,69 patients (7.0%) refused reimplantation,and 729 patients (74.1%) opted for reimplantation.An individualized reimplantation strategy was developed according to their clinical situation.Devices were implanted in 703 patients (71.4%) on the contralateral side to reduce the risk of reinfection;leadless pacemakers (LP) were implanted in 24 patients (2.4%),and subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (S-ICD) were implanted in 2 patients (0.2%),based on specific indications.The rate of simultaneous reimplantation during TLE was 19.4% (191/984),primarily among pacemaker-dependent patients with pocket infections.70 patients (7.1%) underwent device upgrade or downgrade.During a mean of (3.9±2.6) years follow-up,the all-cause mortality rate were 8.9% (88 cases),and the pocket infection rate after reimplantation was 1.5% (15 cases ) .Conclusions:Individualized reassessment after TLE for CIED infection patients can help optimize reimplantation decision-making and avoid unnecessary reimplantations and associated complications.The choice of reimplantation strategy should be strictly based on the clinical situations.Devices should preferably be re-implanted on the contralateral side to reduce reinfection risk.LP and S-ICD are suitable for patients with specific indications.Simultaneous reimplantation during TLE is feasible for some patients with pocket infections but further studies are required to evaluate the safety of this approach.
cardiovascular implantable electronic devicetransvenous lead extractionreimplantationinfection