Baseline Characteristics
Among the 126 patients with a temporary pacemaker, 63 (50%) had a TPPM, and others (n=63) had a BTTP. Baseline demographics and cardiac history are summarized in Table 1. The mean age was 66.6 + 16.5 years in the TPPM group compared to 70.1 + 12.6 years in the BTTP group (P= 0.183). Both groups had similar baseline characteristics, including female gender and racial minorities representation. Fifty-two percent of the TPPM group were males compared to 54% of BTTP group. African Americans constituted more than 25% of each group (P= 0.672). The prevalence of hypertension was similar in both groups. There was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure between the two groups at time of pacemaker insertion. None of the patients in both groups had a history of DVT/PE prior to admission.
The most common indication for temporary pacemaker placement in both groups was AV node dysfunction (50.8% vs 52.4%), followed by sinus node dysfunction and ventricular arrhythmia overriding (p=0.911,Table 2 ). For the TPPM cohort, subclavian vein was the site of access in 89.0% of cases, followed by internal jugular vein (11.0%). The femoral vein was not used as access site in this group. However, the femoral vein was most used for access in the BTTP group (65.1%) followed by internal jugular vein (31.7%) and subclavian vein (3.2%) (P<0.001).