Objectives: To report on the safety and efficacy of transvenous cardiac pacing wire insertion outside a tertiary hospital by a medical retrieval service.
Methods: SAAS MedSTAR Emergency Medical Retrieval Service transports symptomatic bradycardic patients in rural South Australia to Adelaide on transvenous pacing for ongoing management. This is a retrospective case review of all transvenous cardiac pacing wires inserted by SAAS MedSTAR between January 2015 and October 2017.
Results: This study demonstrated successful insertion of cardiac transvenous pacing wires and cardiac capture in 10 of 11 cases (91%) by pre-hospital and retrieval doctors. There were no immediate or long-term complications from insertion. All of the patients were successfully transferred by helicopter or fixed wing to their receiving facility, with nine of the 11 patients (82%) surviving to hospital discharge.
Conclusion: This paper demonstrates that transvenous cardiac pacing can be safely and successfully implemented for symptomatic patients by pre-hospital and retrieval physicians in the aeromedical retrieval setting.
Keywords: bradycardia; pacing; pre-hospital; retrieval medicine; safety.
© 2019 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.