Percutaneous epicardial pacing in infants using direct visualization: A feasibility animal study

Abstract

This study was supported by two research grants, one from the Pediatric and Congenital Electrophysiology Society (PACES) and another from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Children's Heart Foundation (CHF). Justin D. Opfermann and Charles I. Berul are co-founders of PeriCor, LLC. Charles I. Berul is a consultant for Medtronic. Justin D. Opfermann, Paige N. Mass, Dr. Charles I. Berul, and Dr. Rohan N. Kumthekar are also members of and hold Shares of Stock Options in PeriCor, LLC. The results of the study discussed in this publication could affect the value of PeriCor, LLC. This arrangement has been reviewed and approved by the Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies.

Clinical needs should drive innovation

“…The authors set out to address this issue by creating a tool to ease epicardial device lead placement, and the first step in this multistep plan is epicardial access. The current data presented by Kumthekar et al 1 demonstrate the use of this tool in an immature porcine model (Yorkshire piglets) to test the implant procedure characteristics and efficiencies. Early results are promising, showing the time from skin nick to sheath access in the pericardium was <10 min with a mean total procedure time of 16 min.…”

“…In this study from Kumthekar et al 1 in this month's Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, we learn the results of early feasibility testing of PeriScope in an animal (porcine) study. PeriScope is a novel percutaneous access tool for epicardial access developed to aid in the implantation of epicardial cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) in both pediatric and congenital patients who require systems at a young age.…”