TLE procedures
The characteristics of the pacemaker infections and TLE procedures in
all patients are summarized in Table 2. All 8 patients were diagnosed
with a pocket infection identified by typical local inflammatory changes
such as erythema, swelling, and/or erosions of the skin, but differed in
their severity. Of those, in 2 patients (patients No.1 and No.2) lead
involvement was revealed by transesophageal and transthoracic
echocardiography but they had negative blood cultures. There was one
patient (patient No.8) who had evidence of a positive blood culture for
Staphylococcus aureus. Preprocedural venography demonstrated an
occlusion in the ipsilateral subclavian vein in 6 patients (75%). Seven
patients (88%) underwent TLEs under general anesthesia and 1 under
conscious sedation (patient No.4). In two patients (patients No.2 and
No.4) with a short lead dwelling time, a complete lead removal could be
achieved by only using a snare technique. Four patients used an excimer
laser sheath technique and four other patients used a mechanical sheath
technique including 2 with a non-powered polypropylene sheath, 1 with a
bidirectional rotational mechanical sheath, and 1 with both techniques.
There were no patients that required open-heart surgery support. The
mean procedural duration was 141.8 ± 49.7 minutes. Complete procedural
success was achieved in all TLEs. There were no major or minor
complications among the patients.