Motivation:

To describe demographic and clinical characteristics of patients who developed infections related to cardiovascular implantable electronic devices.

Methods:

Medical records of patients who were admitted for infections of cardiovascular implantable devices between January 2006 and September 2015 were reviewed. Characteristics related to the patient, the procedure, the device and the isolated microorganism were described.

Results:

22 patients were admitted for infections related to cardiovascular implantable Electronic devices Average age was 63 years (SD 13.7) and 86% were male. Half of the patients suffered from chronic renal disease and only 27% diabetes mellitus. All cases had at least 2 intracardiac electrodes and 40.91% had required a previous replacement of the device. The most frequently isolated germ was Staphylococcus epidermidis. Mortality rate was 22.73%.

Conclusions:

Cardiovascular device-related infections are more and more frequent. The presence of a local or systemic infection with or without intracardiac involvement must be identified. The goals of the treatment are oriented towards the removal of the cardiovascular device and empirical antibiotic therapy.

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