Ventricular assist devices (VADs) are used to provide mechanical circulatory support to patients with end-stage heart failure. The driveline connecting the external power source to the pump(s) of the intra-corporal VAD breaches the protective skin barrier and provides a track for microbes to invade the interior of the patient’s body. Driveline infection constitutes a major and potentially fatal vulnerability of VAD therapy. Driveline infection cannot traditionally be salvaged and requires the extraction of the entire VAD system. We report here the successful eradication of a VAD driveline infection with a taurolidine-containing antimicrobial solution used for preventing the infection of cardiac implantable electronic devices. If replicated in more cases, the novel treatment concept described here may provide a valuable alternative management strategy of salvage rather than explantation for VAD driveline infection.

Background Cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) are commonly used to treat cardiac arrhythmias and prevent sudden cardiac death. Complications of CIED therapy include component malfunction, lead dislodgement, skin erosion and infection. Infection can result in significant morbidity and even mortality. The recommended treatment of CIED skin erosion and infection is urgent complete device extraction. When this is infeasible due to patient or resource factors, an attempt could be made to salvage the exposed or infected CIED system by debridement of all the infected necrotic tissues and irrigation of the pocket and contaminated hardware with anti-septic/antibiotic solutions. Taurolidine, when dissolved in an aqueous solution, produces a broad spectrum of antimicrobial actions and may be used as a novel irrigation agent during CIED salvage. Case presentation This report describes the first use of a taurolidine-containing solution for pocket irrigation and in situ hardware sterilisation that resulted in the successful salvage of a CIED infected with multi-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis. Conclusions A taurolidine-containing antimicrobial solution can be a safe and effective alternative to traditional antiseptic/antibiotic solutions for pocket irrigation and in situ hardware sterilisation during CIED salvage, and may produce better clinical outcomes by some unique mechanisms of action such as inhibition of biofilm formation and neutralisation of endotoxins, with little risk of inducing and encountering resistance.

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We reported the novel use of a taurolidine-containing antimicrobial solution in the successful salvage of a partially exposed and polymicrobially infected cardiac implantable electronic device pulse generator in a frail patient unfit for lead extraction. The old, salvaged device was entirely internalized, and there were no signs of recurrent infection at 9 months follow-up.