Cardiac venous injuries: Procedural profiles and outcomes during left ventricular lead placement for cardiac resynchronization therapy

Background Injury to the cardiac venous structures can complicate left ventricular lead placement for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Little is known about the outcomes of coronary sinus (CS) dissection with or without perforation. Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the outcomes in patients who had a CS injury during CRT implantation. Methods All patients undergoing procedures for CRT implantation at the Cleveland Clinic (2001–2018) were enrolled in a prospectively maintained registry for procedural profiles and complications. All patients with cardiac venous injuries during the procedures were included. Results CS injury occurred in 35 of 5011 patients (0.7%; 6 perforations (17.1%), 29 dissections without perforation (82.9%)). In patients with dissection in the absence of perforation, attempts at CS lead placement after dissection were successful in 21 of 29 patients (72.4%). In those with perforation (n=6, 17.1%), CS lead placement was successful in one of them (16.7%). Cardiac tamponade occurred in 2 patients (5.7%), and the procedure was aborted in both of them. Overall, CS lead placement failed in 13 patients (37%) but 9 (25.7%) underwent subsequent CRT with CS lead placement (n=6, 17.1%; median 58 days later) or epicardial leads (n=3, 8.6%). Three of the remaining 4 patients (8.6%) refused to undergo further procedures, and the fourth (2.9%) died of a complicated course. Conclusion CS injury is not common during CRT implantation procedures and did not preclude successful lead placement in 23 of 35 patients (65.7%) during the index procedure and 6 of 6 (100%) during the subsequent attempted procedures. A low rate of mortality was observed in such patients, but CS injury was associated with increased morbidity.