Five days after admission, the patient
had become totally asymptomatic and was ambulating in the hallway. He
was afebrile and his white count had returned to normal. The Infectious
Diseases consultant recommended that the pacemaker leads be removed
as soon as feasible. However, everyone was concerned about removing
the leads early for fear that the new leads would be exposed to a statistically
increased risk of infection. The use of ventricular epicardial leads
was not attractive because the patient was totally pacemaker dependant
and needed an atrial kick secondary to his cardiomyopathy and depressed
EF.
Which one of
the following would be MOST useful in supporting a
delay in replacing the pacemaker leads: