VIDEO: Lowering mortality rates from infected EP implantable cardiac devices
Sean Pokorney, MD, director of the arrhythmia core lab, Duke Clinical Research Institute, assistant professor of Medicine, Duke University, discusses a new study that shows mortality is higher in patients with implantable electrophysiology (EP) device infections where the leads are not explanted. This was a late-breaking study of more than 1 million patients presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2022 meeting.
Pokorney was the co-principle investigator of the study, which found low rates of guideline-directed care for pulling out leads that were attached to infected devices. This was associated with higher mortality in patients with infections of pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD). Instead of extracting leads, EPs often rely on using antibiotics, but the data from this study show this approach has higher mortality than extracting the leads.
Cardiac implantable electrophysiology device (CIED) infections are a serious but under-discussed problem. Each year, about 1 million CIEDs are implanted worldwide. About 1 in 20 of these patients experience an infection, and within the U.S., those infections cause about 7,000 preventable deaths. The new late-breaking data demonstrates a major gap in guideline adherence leading to significant mortality for patients with infected CIEDs.
Related ACC 2022 News:
Links to all the ACC 2022 late-breaking clinical trials
Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: dfornell@innovatehealthcare.com