Edwards EndoVent as a Pacing Catheter for Minimally Invasive Aortic Valve Surgery a Novel Approach

Abstract

Objective

The placement of epicardial pacing wires before weaning from bypass during port-access heart surgery can be difficult or impossible. Sometimes, it is necessary to pacing the patient to wean from bypass, and it is problematic to exchange the Edwards pulmonary vent (EndoVent) for a pace catheter under the drapes. Our objective was to devise an effective means of pacing the patient using the pulmonary vent catheter.

Methods

All patients having aortic valve minimally invasive port-access surgery have a pacing wire deployed through the Edwards EndoVent catheter. We did a retrospective chart analysis of these cases.

Results

After reviewing the anesthesia records, we determined that we were able to reliably convert the pulmonary vent catheter, which is beneficial for the surgery, into a pacing catheter before weaning from bypass 100% of the time. The mean pacing threshold current was 1.60 mA with the wire in the right ventricular apex.

Conclusions

We found that in all 25 patients we were able to rapidly convert the vent catheter into a reliable pacing catheter without any complications.

Keywords

Minimally invasive surgery Aortic valve surgery Endovent Pacing Edwards Lifesciences MICS Cardiac bypass Epicardial pacing Pacing Catheter Pacing Wire Pacing Swan

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