Percutaneous Removal of Cardiac Leads in a Single Center in South America

In the last decade, the number of cardiac electronic devices has risen considerably and consequently the occasional need for their removal. Concurrently, the transvenous lead removal became a safe procedure that could prevent open-heart surgery.

The primary objective of this study was to describe the successful performance and the complication rates of pacemaker removals in a Brazilian public hospital. Our secondary aim was to describe the variables associated to successes and complications.

A retrospective case series was conducted in patients submitted to pacemaker removal in a Brazilian public hospital from January 2013 to June 2018. Removal, explant, extraction, success and complication rates were defined by the 2017 Heart Rhythm Society Guideline. Categorical variables were compared using x2 or Fisher's tests, while continuous variables were compared by unpaired tests. A p-value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Cardiac device removals were performed in 61 patients, of which 51 were submitted to lead extractions and 10 to lead explants. In total, 128 leads were removed. Our clinical success rate was 100% in the explant group and 90.2% in the extraction one (p=0.58). Major complications were observed in 6.6% patients. Procedure failure was associated to older right ventricle (p=0.05) and atrial leads (p=0,04). Procedure duration (p=0.003) and need for blood transfusion (p<0,001) were associated to more complications.

Complications and clinical success were observed in 11.5% and 91.8% of the population, respectively. Removal of older atrial and ventricular leads were associated with lower success rates. Longer procedures and blood transfusions were associated with complications.