Retrosternal lead placement: an attractive alternative to subcutaneous tunneling

Nicholas Stanley Clarke; Raghav Murthy; Michael Erik Jessen

doi:10.1007/s12055-017-0601-3

Retrosternal lead placement: an attractive alternative to subcutaneous tunneling

Indian J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2018 Jul;34(3):402-405. doi: 10.1007/s12055-017-0601-3. Epub 2017 Oct 30.

Authors

Nicholas Stanley Clarke^{1

2}, Raghav Murthy³, Michael Erik Jessen¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX USA.
² UT Southwestern Medical School, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390-9159 USA.
³ Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery, Rady Children's Hospital, University of California, San Diego, CA USA.

Abstract

Complex lead placement is on the rise. When ipsilateral lead placement is unavailable, a retrosternal approach offers minimal cosmetic defects while minimizing lead injury. A retrosternal technique has yet to be described in the literature. Here, we describe our technique, tricks, and pitfalls to performing such an operation in three patients.

Keywords: Chitwood clamp; Complex lead placement; Retrosternal.

Publication types

Case Reports