Increased Incidence of Noise in the Tendril Pacemaker Lead Detected via Remote Monitoring

Abstract

Background: Prior studies suggest increased rates of noise on the Tendril (St Jude Medical/Abbott, St. Paul, MN, USA) pacemaker lead. We aim to assess the incidence of lead noise in the Tendril and 5076 (Medtronic PLC, Minneapolis, MN, USA) pacemaker leads in our cohort and in the process assess the utility of remote monitoring for identifying lead malfunction.

Methods: Deidentified, multi-centre, prospectively collected observational cohort data was obtained to assess the incidence of noise on the Tendril and 5076 pacemaker leads.

Results: 148 Tendril and 737 CapSureFix Novus 5076 (Medtronic, MN, USA) pacemaker leads were remotely monitored. Incidence of noise on the Tendril was 8% and 0.27% on the CapSureFix Novus.

Conclusion: Rates of noise in the Tendril lead are higher than a market competitor. Remote monitoring is useful in detecting this concerning anomaly.

Keywords: CapSureFix Novus pacemaker lead; Pacemaker lead failure; Pacemaker lead noise; Pacing; Remote monitoring; Tendril pacemaker lead.