Pacing in Regional Australia: An Audit of Two Recently-Developed Device Implantation Programs Across Two Regional Centres in New South Wales

Abstract

In New South Wales, Australia, centres offering cardiac device implantation are typically clustered around metropolitan areas. Within the last 2 years, device implantation has become available at Tamworth and Coffs Harbour, giving regional patients, who previously would have travelled large distances, the benefits of a local service. Section snippets Methods Data including patient demographics, device type, and peri-procedural complications was reviewed from consecutive device implantations from the commencement of services at Coffs Harbour (March 2020) and Tamworth (November 2020) until March 2022. Results During the audit period a total of 322 procedures were performed; 192 at Coffs Harbour and 130 at Tamworth. The majority of patients were male (195; 60.6%). The median age was 80 years (range, 27–101). The implantation of new devices accounted for 201 procedures (62.4%), with 102 device replacements (31.7%), 11 revisions (3.4%) 5 upgrades to CRT devices (1.6%), 1 replacement and revision (0.3%) and 1 device and lead explantation (0.3%). The total complication rate was 5.9%, including 5 Conclusion Upon review of 322 consecutive device implantations across regional centres in NSW, Australia, it would appear that the services are safe, with complication rates not exceeding benchmarks set in other large local and international pacing databases.