BACKGROUND: The Heart Team approach has become an integral part of modern cardiovascular medicine. To evaluate current opinions and real-world practice among lead extraction practitioners, an online survey was created and distributed among a pool of lead extraction specialists participating in the International Lead Extraction Expert Meeting (ILEEM) 2018. METHODS: The online survey consisted of 10 questions and was performed using an online survey tool (www.surveymonkey.com). The collector link was sent to 48 lead extraction experts via email. RESULTS: A total of 43 answers were collected (89% return rate) from lead extraction experts in 16 different countries. A great majority (83.7%) of the respondents performed more than 30 lead extraction procedures per year. The most common procedural environment in this survey was the hybrid operating room (67.4%). Most procedures were performed by electrophysiologists and cardiologists (80.9%). Important additional members of the current lead extraction teams were cardiac surgeons (79.1%), anesthesiologists (95.3%) and operating room scrub nurses (76.7%). An extended Heart Team is regarded beneficial for patient care by 86.0%, with potential further members being infectious diseases specialists, intensivists and radiologists. Team training activities are performed in 48.8% of participating centers. CONCLUSIONS: This survey supports the importance of establishing lead extraction Heart Teams in specialized lead extraction centers to potentially improve patient outcomes. The concept of a core and an extended Heart Team approach in lead extraction procedures is introduced.

Cardiology Clinical Academic Group St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust London United Kingdom

Department for Cardiology Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine Prague Czech Republic

Department of Arrhythmology and Cardiac Pacing Unit IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele Milan Italy

Department of Cardiology Catharina Hospital Eindhoven The Netherlands

Department of Cardiology Isala Hospital Zwolle The Netherlands

Department of Cardiology Karolinska University Hospital Stockholm Sweden

Department of Cardiology Medical University of Lublin Poland

Department of Cardiology Tokyo Women's Medical University Tokyo Japan

Department of Cardiovascular Medicine Shinshu University School of Medicine Matsumoto Japan

Division of Electrophysiology and Pacing Department of Cardiology University Heart Center Zurich Switzerland

German Center of Cardiovascular Research partner site Berlin Berlin Germany

German Heart Center Berlin Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery Berlin Germany

Green Lane Cardiovascular Service Auckland City Hospital and University of Auckland New Zealand

Heart Center Kuopio University Hospital and University of Eastern Finland Kuopio Finland

Steinbeis University Berlin Institute of Cardiovascular Perfusion Berlin Germany

UNC REX Healthcare Cardiac Surgical Specialists Raleigh North Carolina United States

University of Utah Sciences Center Salt Lake City Utah United States

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