title: Management of a remnant electrode in a patient with cardioverter-defibrillator infection after refusal of intravascular electrode removal.
abstract: Treatments of choice for cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) infections are the removal of the entire CIED system, control of infection, and new device implantation. Occasionally, a complete CIED removal can not be performed for several reasons, such as very old age, severe comobidity, limited life expectancy, or refusal by a patient. We encountered a male patient who developed traumatic CIED infection five years after cardioverter-defibrillator implantation. An intravenous electrode could not be removed by a simple transvenous extraction procedure, and he refused surgical removal of the remnant electrode. After control of local infection, the tips of the electrode were separated and buried between muscles, and the wound was closed with a local flap. CIED infection did not recur for 12 months even without relying on long-term antimicrobial treatment.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine School of Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, Korea.
authors.forename: Sunghwahn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: Jihwan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jung Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Seong-Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Tae Soo
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Byoung Eun
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Myung-Yong
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lee