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Precipitous Exit Block with Epicardial Steroid‐Eluting Leads
Author(s) -
BEDER STANLEY D.,
KUEHL KAREN S.,
HOPKINS RICHARD A.,
TONDER LISA M.,
MANS DAN R.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1997.tb05466.x
Subject(s) - medicine , lead (geology) , cardiology , heart failure , ventricular pacing , heart block , surgery , electrocardiography , geomorphology , geology
Between fanuary 1990 and October 1992, we implanted 16 steroid‐eluting ventricular epicardial pacing leads (Medtronic 10295A and 10295B/4965) in 12 patients. There were 8 males and 4 females ranging in age from 3 months to 49 years (mean 8.7 ± 13.2, median 6.0years). Structural cardiac disease was present in 11 of 12 patients. Follow‐up ranged from 3–73 months postimplant (mean 35.7 ± 22.3, median 28.5 months). Lead fracture (10295A) occurred in 1 of 12 patients. Of the remaining 11 patients, 8 of 11 have very low long‐term pacing thresholds. Unexpectedly, 3 patients demonstrated precipitous threshold increases from 3 months to 3.5 years postimplant. Although no deaths resulted in these exit block patients, 1 of 3 exit block patients developed marked worsening of congestive heart failure. We reviewed and analyzed the data obtained at 4 weeks postimplant for all of the 10295A and 4965 patients in the entire Medtronic clinical study database. Using the criterion of a 4 week postimplant pacing threshold ≥ 0.12 ms (5 V), we found that the long‐term risk of eventual exit block was 27.3% for the 10295A lead (P = 0.005) and 7.5% for the 10295B/4965 lead (P = 0.03). We, therefore, recommend that in patients implanted with the 4965 steroideluting epicardial lead, ventricular pacing thresholds ≥ 0.12 ms (5 V) measured at 4 weeks postimplant should prompt frequent threshold testing to detect late and potentially sudden ventricular pacing threshold increases.