Background: The most frequent mechanism of lead-related tricuspid regurgitation (LRTR), which occurs in 7.2% to 44.7% of patients implanted with a cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED), is leaflet impingement or the restriction of its movement by a ventricular lead. It is unclear if the position of the lead tip - in the right ventricular apex (RVA) or other location (non-RVA) - has any influence on the development of LRTR. The study aimed to determine the impact of the CIED lead tip position on the development or progression of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) and its potential impact on heart failure exacerbation and mortality.
Methods: One hundred and two consecutive patients who received CIEDs between March 2020 and October 2021 were included in the prospective registry (PACE-RVTR). Patients were assigned to two groups depending on the lead position - the RVA group and the non-RVA group. All patients underwent echocardiographic evaluation before implantation and one year later.
Results: In terms of baseline clinical characteristics, the two groups did not differ. Before CIED implantation, patients in the non-RVA group had better left ventricular systolic function (P = 0.004). Pacemakers were implanted more often in the non-RVA group (P = 0.001) while implantable cardioverter-defibrillators in the RVA group (P = 0.008). Progression to severe or massive TR was more common in the non-RVA group (P = 0.005).
Conclusion: Severe and massive TR occurred more often in patients with the non-RVA position of the lead. The right ventricular lead position did not impact heart failure progression or all-cause mortality at two-year follow-up.
Keywords: cardiac implantable electronic device; heart failure; right ventricle; tricuspid regurgitation; valve disease.