Introduction
There has been a steady increase in the number of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) fitted in the UK over the last decade, and common complications of CIED insertion include bleeding or bruising at the insertion site, pneumothorax, lead displacement and infection.
Complications of device insertion are common. Some of the largest datasets come from Denmark. In 2013, an analysis of 5,918 consecutive cases found that 2.4% of patients required a lead-related re-intervention, 0.9% developed a pneumothorax, 0.8% developed infection, 0.6% had a cardiac perforation and 0.2% developed a haematoma requiring re-operation.1 More
