Appraisal of pacing lead performance using transtelephonic follow-up data.

Reliable performance statistics for implantable pacing leads are not readily available because of difficulties involved in data collection. An alternate source of data exists in the form of commercial monitoring service data. The example considered here involves transtelephonic follow-up data collected by CardioCare, a cardiac monitoring service. This presentation describes a procedure used to identify complications arising from pacing leads, and also presents a method for proper analysis of the data. Analyses comparing silicone leads and polyurethane leads were performed on leads manufactured by five major manufacturers in the United States. The results indicate that the performance of polyurethane unipolar leads is similar to that of the silicone unipolar leads. However, the polyurethane bipolar leads did not perform as well as the silicone bipolar leads.