Prevalence of chronic kidney disease in patients undergoing cardiac rhythm device removal.

Cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) leads can cause central venous stenosis (CVS). In addition, these devices can get infected. Both are critically important considerations in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) for at least two reasons: (i) central veins serve as the final pathway should these patients need an arteriovenous access to provide dialysis therapy; and (ii) the presence of renal failure increases the risk of CIED infection. In this analysis, we investigated the prevalence as well as the degree of chronic kidney disease in patients harboring a CIED. Patients undergoing CIED removal were evaluated from 2001 to 2011. The patients were categorized into CKD stage I-V based on National Kidney Foundation-Dialysis Outcomes Quality Initiative guidelines. A total of 503 patients underwent CIED removal. Demographic characteristics revealed that 30% had hypertension, 44% were diabetics, 77% had coronary artery disease, and 84% suffered from congestive heart failure. Ninety percent (452/503) of the patients had CKD (stage I = I9 [4.2%], stage II = 189 [41.8%], stage III A = 96 [21.2%], stage III B = 59 [13.0%], stage IV = 45 [9.9%], and stage V = 44 [9.7%]). Overall, 148 (32.7%) patients (stage III B, stage IV, and stage V) of 452 had advanced renal failure. The results of this study reveal that one-third of CIED patients undergoing device removal have advanced chronic kidney disease.

Epicardial cardiac rhythm devices for dialysis patients: minimizing the risk of infection and preserving central veins.

Transvenous leads of cardiac rhythm devices (CRDs) are known to cause central stenosis and are vulnerable to contamination during hemodialysis access-related bacteremia. In this retrospective study, nine consecutive chronic hemodialysis patients with transvenous CRD infection due to dialysis access-related bacteremia and recurrent central stenosis are presented. Four patients with tunneled hemodialysis catheters (TDCs) and three with arteriovenous grafts experienced access-related bacteremia that spread to the transvenous CRD. Two patients required repeated angioplasty procedures (less than 3 months apart) for central venous stenosis. Transvenous CRD was removed and replaced with an epicardial system in all. One patient with TDC switched to peritoneal dialysis and did not experience infection of the epicardial system despite two episodes of peritonitis. The remaining TDC (n=3) and graft patients (n=3) received a new TDC after the resolution of bacteremia. While all six experienced on average 1.5 episodes of catheter-related bacteremia (average follow-up = 14.5 months), none developed infection of the epicardial system. The patients with central stenosis have required only one angioplasty each for the past 8 and 6 months. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to suggest that an epicardial approach might be a preferred method over transvenous leads for chronic hemodialysis patients.