Aim: Current practice with regard to transvenous lead extraction among European implanting centres was analysed by this survey.
Methods and results: Among all contacted centres, 164, from 30 countries, declared that they perform transvenous lead extraction and answered 58 questions with a compliance rate of 99.9%. Data from the survey show that there seems to be an overall increasing experience of managing various techniques of lead extraction and a widespread involvement of cardiac centres in this treatment. Results and complication rates seem comparable with those of main international registries.
Conclusion: This survey gives an interesting snapshot of lead extraction in Europe today and gives some clues for future research and prospective European registries.