[Endocarditis on cardiac pacemaker endocavitary electrodes. Apropos of 7 cases].

The authors report 7 cases of endocarditis on cardiac pacing catheters observed out of a total of 2 950 primary implantations and 1 600 pacemaker replacements. This is a rare condition (0.15%) but carries a poor prognosis as it usually occurs in elderly patients and demands aggressive management. The presence of multiple pacing catheters and surgical contamination due to manipulation of the pulse generator (reimplantation, pacemaker replacement) are predisposing factors. The infecting organism in these cases was a staphylococcus. One case of metastatic infection was also observed (acinetobacter). Ablation of the septic endocarditic material under effective, prolonged, double antibiotherapy is essential. Recently implanted electrodes were withdrawn by simple traction in 2 cases. This manoeuvre was attempted initially in all cases but stopped when chest pain or runs of ventricular extrasystoles occurred. Open heart explantation of pacing electrodes adherent to the ventricular apex was performed in 5 patients. Cardiopulmonary bypass without cardiac standstill enabled dissection of the fibrous rings surrounding the catheter after purging the blood from the atrial and ventricular cavities. In one patient, associated tricuspid valve endocarditis was found and valvular replacement was performed with a bioprosthesis. Endocardial pacing was replaced by epicardial pacing in patients with permanent AV block. The prognosis of this condition is poor; there were 2 deaths in this series of 7 patients.