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Unlabelled: Technological advances have resulted in the development of dual chamber pacemaker/defibrillator systems with smaller pectoral 'active cans'. Patients now have the option of upgrading from abdominal to pectoral or from single to dual chamber devices. In addition, due to the potential complications which may arise with abandoned ICD leads, extraction of preexisting leads may be preferable., Methods and Results: Twenty consecutive patients (11 males), underwent lead extraction and upgrade, either from an abdominal to a pectoral, or from a single to a dual chamber device. The mean age was 62+/-18 years and mean implant duration was 50+/-14 months. Indications for extraction included lead fracture/malfunction (13), ERI/EOL (2), new SVT/VT (2), long charge times (2), and impending erosion (1). An initial attempt was made to remove the lead with gentle traction. If excessive scar tissue prohibited extraction, then a laser sheath was employed. Reimplantation proceeded following standard protocol. Clinical success was achieved in all patients. Eleven of thirty leads were removed with traction. The remaining 19 leads required removal with the laser sheath. All ICD reimplants were placed in the left pectoral position, of which 10 were dual chamber. The mean defibrillation threshold was 9.5+/-5.8 Joules. There were no procedure related perforations or deaths. At follow up (13+/-10 mos. ) there were no infections, lead malfunctions or venous thromboses. There were two deaths, both from intractable heart failure., Conclusions: This study demonstrates that, when indicated, ICD leads can be safely extracted and systems successfully upgraded to take advantage of new technology.

Reported is a case involving a patient with a previously implanted spinal cord stimulator (SCS) who presented for an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). The SCS device was located in the left lower abdominal quadrant with a stimulation electrode array placed on the dorsal aspect of the spinal cord at the T-11 thoracic level. Interaction testing demonstrated that the biopolar sensing transvenous ICD system (Medtronic 7221 Cx PCD) did not detect the stimulator's output at burst rates ranging from 20-130 pulses/s, even with the ICD set to its maximum sensitivity of 0.15 m V and the stimulator programmed to the highest patient tolerated output combinations of 5 V, 0.45 ms in the bipolar configuration and 3 V, 0.45 ms in the unipolar (i.e., case-electrode) configuration.