Introduction: Permanent cardiac pacing is a technique whose indications have increased in the last 20 years. As with any foreign body, pacemaker implantation is associated with the risk of infection. The objective of this study was to describe the clinical, paraclinical and treatment options of infections secondary to pacemaker implantation at the Cardiology Department of the Aristide le Dantec Teaching Hospital (CHU Aristide le Dantec) in Dakar, Senegal.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective study over a period of three years (from January 2005 to December 2007) during which pacemaker implantation was carried out in 107 patients. All patients with local and/or systemic signs of infection were included in our study.
Results: The prevalence of infection in patients with pacemakers was 5.6% in our series and infection occurred in three women and three men, with a mean age of 66.2 years (range 23-83). The delay time for the onset of clinical signs of infection was 6.6 months, with a range of eight days to 12 months. The clinical signs were externalisation of the pacemaker with suppuration (five cases), fever (one case) and inflammatory signs (one case). Factors favouring the occurrence of infection were co-morbidity (four cases), pre-operative length of stay (average eight days), use of temporary cardiac pacing (three cases), the number of people in the theatre (average 4.5), postoperative haematoma (one case) and repeating the surgical procedure (three cases). Staphylococcus epidermidis (two cases), Staphylococcus aureus (two cases) and Klebsiella pneumonia (one case) were the organisms isolated at the local site. Transthoracic echocardiography showed no objective signs of endocarditis. The treatment was antibiotic therapy for an average duration of 50.4 days after debridement of the infected site (six cases). We noted four recurrences at six months and one death from sepsis at 12 months.
Conclusion: Infections secondary to pacemaker implantation are rare but serious. Their management is difficult and requires the removal of the implanted material, hence the importance of prevention of infection, or the removal and re-implantation of the pacemaker at another site in cases of infection. This is particularly important in our region where pacemakers are very expensive.