A simple coaxial dilating system using a traction-countertraction technique provides a safe and cost-effective alternative to thoracotomy for removing infected pacemaker leads.
May offer a less invasive option for infected lead extraction; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective validation before practice change.
A simple traction-countertraction technique using common and readily available materials was successfully used to remove infected pacemaker leads from two patients. The specific methodology is presented. Although somewhat technically demanding, this approach appears safe and cost-effective. This method provides another way to remove pacemaker leads without resorting to thoracotomy.
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Hager et al. (1994) studied this question.
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