Femoral Tools

Femoral tools were developed to retrieve leads via the femoral approach. Many of these tools come from other disciplines. The most common procedure for extracting leads using the femoral approach is employed using the Byrd Workstation M femoral intravascular retrieval set. With this system, as 

The Byrd Workstation helical loop basket and tip-deflecting wire guide (Fig. 4.15). Components included in the Byrd Workstation are (a) 16-F workstation check-flow introducer sheath set (b) 12-F straight inner femoral sheath (c) helical 

Fig 4 15 Byrd Workstation femoral intravascular retrieval set 16-F sheath containing a coaxial 12-F inner sheath preloaded with a Dotter helical loop basket and a tip-deflecting wire guide 

In addition to the previously described tools, there are other tools that can be used following the transfemoral approaches to lead extraction. They are classified depending on their use in catheters and snares. Usually, these tools can be used either in one- or two-step approaches (described later in under Femoral Approach ). Briefly, when a lead s free proximal end is accessible, the one-step femoral approach is adopted. Otherwise, a two-step approach must be used, with the former step used to create a loop around the lead to pull the proximal end of the lead in the I VC. 

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Femoral tools tools developed for retrieving leads by the femoral approach. Many of these tools have come from other disciplines. 

The common angiographic catheter is an important tool for lead extraction. One such catheter is the conunon angled pigtail catheter. This catheter can be used to retrieve and position electrodes by the femoral approach. Other catheters used to assist in lead extraction include a right Judkin s coronary catheter, multipurpose coronary catheter, and Amplatz catheter (Microvena Corp., White Bear Lake, MN). The catheters are usually passed femorally through a sheath. 

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