Background
Implantation of pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) can be complicated by infection and device erosion.
It is unclear if the clinical features of patients who have device erosion differ from those without erosion.
Methods
We retrospectively examined the records of all patients referred for explantation of a pacemaker or defibrillator from January
2000 to May 2005. We examined demographic variables including age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) as well as clinical variables
related to erosion and procedural variables.
Results
Seventy-two patients with infected pacemakers or ICDs were identified. Of these cases, 30 (42%) developed infection complicated
by erosion, of which 8/28 (29%) were related to ICDs, and 22/44 (50%) were related to pacemakers.
Conclusions
Device erosion was significantly associated with the presence of a non-systemic infection as opposed to cases without erosion.
This finding may have implications in the timing of device re-implantation.
Keywords ICD - Permanent pacemaker - Infection - Erosion