Temporary transvenous cardiac pacing: a survey on current practice.

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Electrophysiology
• Medical Devices

Background:

• Temporary transvenous cardiac pacing (TTCP) is a common procedure despite limited guideline coverage.
• Infections of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED) are a significant complication of TTCP.
• Current TTCP practices lack a unified approach, necessitating a comprehensive survey.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the current country-wide practices of temporary transvenous cardiac pacing (TTCP) in Italy.
• To identify variations in TTCP procedures, complication management, and infection prophylaxis.
• To provide a national overview of TTCP utilization and strategies.

Main Methods:

• An online survey was distributed to members of the Italian Association of Arrhythmology and Cardiac Pacing.
• Data were collected from 102 physicians across 81 Italian hospitals.
• The survey focused on TTCP strategies, approaches, and post-procedure management.

Main Results:

• Significant heterogeneity exists in TTCP strategies for acute bradycardia, with a trend towards limiting use to advanced atrioventricular block.
• TTCP is primarily performed by electrophysiologists or interventional cardiologists, often via a femoral approach with non-floating catheters.
• Inconsistent practices were observed in infection and thromboembolic complication prevention, as well as in post-TTCP management.

Conclusions:

• Italian cardiologists exhibit considerable variability in their approaches to temporary transvenous cardiac pacing.
• These practice variations may influence long-term outcomes, particularly the incidence of CIED-related infections.
• Further investigation is required to correlate divergent TTCP practices with patient outcomes.