Jordan R. Nevo

Aims: A dual-chamber leadless pacemaker (LP) system relies on a beat-to-beat, wireless, implant-to-implant (i2i™) communication between implanted devices in the right atrium and right ventricle (A-to-V and V-to-A). Atrioventricular (AV) synchrony was evaluated during an ambulatory 24 h period of daily living to determine if its effectiveness can be maintained under real-world conditions. Methods and results: A prospective, single-arm, multicentre clinical study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT05252702) evaluated the overall safety and performance of the dual-chamber LPs in patients with standard indications for dual-chamber pacing. Following the 3-month visit, eligible patients wore 12-lead Holter monitors for 24 h while resuming the activities of daily living while under clinically driven programmed settings. Leadless pacemaker diagnostic data were interrogated when patients returned to the clinic. An independent Holter core laboratory adjudicated the proportion of synchronous beats (PR intervals within paced and sensed AV delay bounds). Relationships between AV synchrony and i2i communication success rate, implant indication, heart rate, and AV event type were evaluated. Among 47 analysable patients, mean AV synchrony was achieved in 96.7% of beats, exceeding mean A-to-V and V-to-A transmission success rates of 93.4% and 92.1%, respectively. There were no significant differences in AV synchrony between sinus node and AV block patients. Across all AV paced/sensed cycle combinations and heart rate ranges (including >100 b.p.m.), AV synchrony was sustained >90% in an ambulatory real-world setting. Conclusion: A dual-chamber leadless pacing system demonstrated >96% overall AV synchrony for a 24 h period of daily living while programmed to clinically appropriate settings, thus showing that true dual-chamber DDD(R) pacing can be maintained in a real-world environment.

BACKGROUND: A dual-chamber leadless pacemaker can provide bradycardia therapy to most patients with pacemaker indications without the complications associated with a lead or pulse generator. We sought to confirm whether previously reported 3-month safety and performance outcomes were sustained through 12 months by determining whether 12-month complication-free and performance success rates exceeded their prespecified performance goals. METHODS: Patients were enrolled in the prospective, single-group Aveir DR i2i Study if they had a standard indication for dual-chamber pacing. Enrolled patients were implanted with an Aveir DR dual-chamber leadless pacemaker system, which comprised 2 communicating leadless pacemakers (1 in the right atrium and 1 in the right ventricle). The primary safety outcome evaluated whether freedom from serious device- or procedure-related events through 365 days exceeded the predetermined performance goal of 76.5%. The primary performance outcome determined whether the composite of atrial capture threshold (≤3.0 V at 0.4 ms) and sensing amplitude (P-wave ≥1.0 mV) at the 12-month visit exceeded the predetermined performance goal of 80.0%. RESULTS: Sites attempted implantation in 300 subjects, where 63.3% had sinus-node dysfunction and 33.3% had atrioventricular block as their primary pacing indication. The primary safety end point was achieved, with a Kaplan-Meier 12-month complication-free rate of 88.6% (95% CI, 84.5–91.8; P P <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Both primary safety and performance end points were met after 1 year, demonstrating consistency with previously reported 3-month outcomes of a dual-chamber leadless pacemaker. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; Unique identifier: NCT05252702.