In September 2020, researchers from the University Heart and Vascular Center Hamburg, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, and Department of Cardiology/Electrophysiology described their technique for laser lead extraction during VA-ECMO in a 64-year-old patient. The complete manuscript by Yalin Yildirim, Johannes Petersen, Tobias Tonnis, Christian Detter, Hermann Reichenspurner, and Simon Pecha can be found in the Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery. The key points of their case study are detailed below.

Since the number of patients receiving pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantations has been increasing over the past few years, the number of patients requiring lead revision and extraction has also been rising. One such reason for requiring lead extraction is lead endocarditis, which often requires complete removal of all lead material from the vascular space.