Abandoned noninfected pacemaker leads are associated with a 20% complication rate, suggesting that proactive lead extraction should be considered to prevent significant morbidity.
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Retained noninfected leads may increase long-term morbidity; leaves open whether extraction improves outcomes versus observation.
Noninfected unwanted pacemaker leads are usually abandoned since the reported complication rate related to them is low. We followed 60 patients with noninfected retained leads, and complication was observed in 12 (20%) of them. Lead migration occurred in 5 patients, skin erosion in 3 patients, venous thrombosis in 2 patients, and muscle stimulation in 2 patients. Management of the complications was a surgical procedure in seven patients, including two cases of open heart surgery, while chronic medical treatment was necessary in the other five patients. The results of this study suggest that complications due to noninfected abandoned leads may not be as rare as it was previously thought and may present a significant morbidity and cost burden. With the lead extraction technique available, the issue of the removal of all unwanted pacemaker leads should be addressed.
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Böhm et al. (2001) studied this question.
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