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Long-term outcomes are poorly understood, and data in patients undergoing transvenous lead extraction (TLE) are lacking.The purpose of this study was to evaluate factors influencing survival in patients undergoing TLE depending on extraction indication.Clinical data from consecutive patients undergoing TLE in the reference center between 2000 and 2019 were prospectively collected. The total cohort was divided into groups depending on whether there was an infective or noninfective indication for TLE. We evaluated the association of demographic, clinical, and device-related and procedure-related factors on mortality.A total of 1151 patients were included. Mean follow-up was 66 months, and mortality was 34.2% (n = 392). Of these patients, 632 (54.9%) and 519 (45.1%) were for infective and noninfective indications, respectively. A higher proportion in the infection group died (38.6% vs 28.5%; P.001). In the total cohort, multivariable analysis demonstrated increased mortality risk with age75 years (hazard ratio [HR] 2.98; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.35-3.78; P.001), estimated glomerular filtration rate60 mL/min/1.73 mLong-term mortality for patients undergoing TLE remains high. Consensus guidelines recommend evaluating risk for major complications when determining whether to proceed with TLE. This study suggests also assessing longer-term outcomes when considering TLE in those with a high risk of medium- and long-term mortality, particularly for noninfective indications.

Background Epicardial pacing increases risk of ventricular tachycardia (VT) in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) when pacing in proximity to scar. Endocardial pacing may be less arrhythmogenic as it preserves the physiological sequences of activation and repolarization. Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the relative arrhythmogenic risk of endocardial compared to epicardial pacing, and the role of the transmural gradient of action potential duration (APD) and pacing location relative to scar on arrhythmogenic risk during endocardial pacing. Methods Computational models of ICM patients (n = 24) were used to simulate left ventricular (LV) epicardial and endocardial pacing 0.2–3.5 cm from a scar. Mechanisms were investigated in idealized models of the ventricular wall and scar. Simulations were run with/without a 20-ms transmural APD gradient in the physiological direction and with the gradient inverted. Dispersion of repolarization was computed as a surrogate of VT risk. Results Patient-specific models with a physiological APD gradient predict that endocardial pacing decreases VT risk (34%; P

Background Risk stratification of ventricular arrhythmia remains complex in patients with ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathy. Objective The purpose of this study was to determine whether scar heterogeneity, quantified by mean entropy, predicts appropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy. We hypothesized that higher mean entropy calculated from cardiac magnetic resonance texture analysis (CMR-TA) will predict appropriate ICD therapy. Methods Consecutive patients underwent CMR imaging before ICD implantation. Short-axis left ventricular scar was manually segmented. CMR-TA was performed using a Laplacian filter to extract and augment image features to create a scar texture from which histogram analysis of pixel intensity was used to calculate mean entropy. The primary end point was appropriate ICD therapy. Results A total of 114 patients underwent CMR-TA (ischemic cardiomyopathy [ICM]: n = 70; nonischemic cardiomyopathy [NICM]: n = 44) with a median follow-up of 955 days (interquartile range 691–1185 days). Mean entropy was significantly higher in the ICM group (5.7 ± 0.7 vs 5.5 ± 0.7; P= .045). Overall, 33 patients received appropriate ICD therapy. Using optimized cutoff values from receiver operating characteristic curves, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated time until first appropriate therapy was significantly shorter in the high mean entropy group (P = .003). Multivariable analysis showed that mean entropy was the sole predictor of appropriate ICD therapy (hazard ratio 1.882; 95% confidence interval 1.083–3.271; P = .025). In the ICM group, mean entropy remained an independent predictor of appropriate ICD therapy, whereas in the NICM group, precontrast T1 values were the sole predictor. Conclusion Scar heterogeneity, quantified by mean entropy using CMR-TA, was an independent predictor of appropriate ICD therapy in the mixed cardiomyopathy cohort and ICM-only group, suggesting a potential role for CMR-TA in predicting ventricular arrhythmia and risk-stratifying patients for ICD implantation.

His-bundle pacing (HBP) and left bundle pacing (LBP) are emerging as novel delivery methods for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in heart failure patients with left bundle branch block (LBBB). HBP and LBP have never been compared to biventricular endocardial (BiV-endo) pacing. Furthermore, there are indications of negative effects of LBP on right ventricular (RV) activation times (ATs), but these effects have not been quantified.The purpose of this study was to compare changes in ventricular activation induced by HBP, LBP, left ventricular (LV) septal pacing, BiV-endo, and biventricular epicardial (BiV-epi) pacing using computer simulations.We simulated ventricular activation on 24 four-chamber heart meshes inclusive of the His-Purkinje network in the presence of LBBB. We simulated BiV-epi pacing, BiV-endo pacing with left ventricular (LV) lead at the lateral wall, BiV-endo pacing with LV lead at the LV septum, HBP, and LBP.HBP was superior to BiV-endo and BiV-epi in terms of reduction in LV ATs and interventricular dyssynchrony (P.05). LBP reduced LV ATs but not interventricular dyssynchrony compared to BiV-epi and BiV-endo pacing. RV latest AT was higher with LBP than with HBP (141.3 ± 10.0 ms vs 111.8 ± 10.4 ms). Optimizing AV delay during LBP reduced RV latest AT (104.7 ± 8.7 ms) and led to comparable response to HBP. In case of complete AV block, BiV-endo septal pacing was equivalent to LBP.HBP is superior to BiV-epi and BiV-endo. To achieve comparable response to HBP, AV delay optimization during LBP is required in order to reduce RV ATs.

Background Enhanced beat-to-beat variability of repolarization is strongly linked to arrhythmogenesis and is largely due to variation in ventricular action potential duration (APD). Previous studies in humans have relied on QT interval measurements; however, a direct relationship between beat-to-beat variability of APD and arrhythmogenesis in humans has yet to be demonstrated. Objective This study aimed to explore the beat-to-beat repolarization dynamics in patients with heart failure at the level of ventricular APD. Methods Forty-three patients with heart failure and implanted cardiac resynchronization therapy – defibrillator devices were studied. Activation-recovery intervals as a surrogate for APD were recorded from the left ventricular epicardial lead while pacing from the right ventricular lead to maintain a constant cycle length. Results During a mean follow-up of 23.6±13.6 months, 11 patients sustained ventricular fibrillation/ventricular tachycardia (VT/VF) and received appropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapies (antitachycardia pacing or shock therapy). Activation-recovery interval variability (ARIV) was significantly greater in patients with subsequent VT/VF than in those without VT/VF (3.55±1.3 ms vs 2.77±1.09 ms; P=.047). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis (area under the curve 0.71; P=.046) suggested high- and low-risk ARIV groups for VT/VF. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that the time until first appropriate therapy for VT/VF was significantly shorter in the high-risk ARIV group (P=.028). ARIV was a predictor for VT/VF in the multivariate Cox model (hazard ratio 1.623; 95% confidence interval 1.1–2.393; P=.015). Conclusion Increased left ventricular ARIV is associated with an increased risk of VT/VF in patients with heart failure.