[The ilio-femoral approach: an alternative for implanting permanent cardiac pacemakers. Three case reports]

Permanent endocavitary cardiac pacing is a widely used therapeutic method. The implantation of pacing catheters is usually performed by the supracardiac veins, the epicardial approach being the classical alternative. The ilio-femoral approach is a third possibility. The authors report three cases in which this approach was used. The implantations were performed under general anaesthesia with an abdominal pacemaker. In two cases, atrial and ventricular catheters were implanted. After an average of 19 months' follow-up, no short or long-term complications were observed: displacement or fracture of the pacing catheter, infection, venous thrombosis, threshold elevation. These results show that this is a safe and feasible alternative to implantation by the traditional or epicardial techniques when these approaches cannot be used.