Preserving Access After Lead Extraction in Venous Stenosis Using Snaring: The Cowboy Bridge Technique
Maintaining continuous access to the right heart chambers during lead extraction is essential, especially when venous stenosis is present. The Cowboy Bridge technique is a novel and reproducible approach that implies retrograde snaring from a femoral access. We report our results applying this technique in two patients with venous stenosis who required a device upgrade with lead extraction. This procedure facilitates the implantation of new leads by maintaining thorough-and-through access and lowering the risk of perforation compared to anterograde or retrograde attempts to traverse the stenotic site with additional wires or catheters.
Authors
- Jesús Saldaña García (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1712-4654)
- Elkin González Villegas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4128-4631)
- José Carlos Romero Carmona
- Panagiotis Mililis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0147-1077)
- Rafael Peinado Peinado
- K Letsas
- M Efremidis
- A Saplaouras
- Alejandra Barreto
Institutions
- Hospital Universitario La Paz (ES)
- Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center (GR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology Review
- Published
- 2026-02-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.15420/aer.2025.57
- Primary Topic
- Cardiac pacing and defibrillation studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00