[Intravenous withdrawal of infected cardiac pacemaker electrodes. Apropos of 5 cases]

Infection of a cardiac pacemaker and its electrodes is one of the most serious complications after implantation of a pacemaker, as it can be life-threatening and constitutes an absolute indication for complete withdrawal of the implanted material which, up until recently, could only be performed by thoracotomy or sternotomy with or without cardiopulmonary bypass. A new transvenous technique for complete removal of the infected pacemaker system has been recently described. We report 5 cases of infected pacemaker systems in which this technique was used successfully allowing withdrawal of 10 electrodes and thereby avoiding the need for a major surgical operation.