the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Valley Hospital participated in a landmark clinical trial that evaluated the ability of a novel, fully absorbable antibacterial envelope – the Medtronic TYRX™ Absorbable Antibacterial Envelope – to reduce infections associated with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs). The study found positive results and demonstrated that the envelope reduced the risk of major infection by 40 percent, and pocket infection by 61 percent, in patients at increased risk for infections receiving CIEDs, compared to standard-of-care pre-operative antibiotics.
The trial results were recently presented in a late-breaking session at the American College of Cardiology’s 68th Annual Scientific Sessions and published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Suneet Mittal, M.D., FACC, FHRS, Director, Electrophysiology, Valley Medical Group; Associate Chair, Cardiovascular Services, Valley Medical Group; Medical Director, The Snyder Center for Comprehensive Atrial Fibrillation, The Valley Hospital; and Director, Cardiac Research, Valley Health System, is one of the authors on the manuscript just published in the New England Journal of Medicine and served on the steering committee of the WRAP-IT trial.
“I am proud to work for an organization that is participating in such high-impact clinical research. The robust trial included a total of 6,983 patients and its clinically significant data will inform practice for the foreseeable future,” says Dr. Mittal. “I take this opportunity to thank my electrophysiology partners, Advay Bhatt, M.D., Dan Musat, M.D., Mark Preminger, M.D., and Tina Sichrovksy, M.D.; the cardiologists who have allowed us to enroll into the trial; Kimberly Michel, RN, Clinical Trials Nurse; and Kathleen Sayles and her entire clinical trials team here at Valley. Each stakeholder played a crucial role in this significant study.”
The trial met its primary objective, showing effectiveness of the TYRX envelope in reducing major infections by 40 percent (p=0.04), and reducing pocket infections by 61 percent (p<0.01) in patients at increased risk for infections resulting from CIED implantation. The trial also met its safety objective: the envelope did not increase the risk of procedure-related or system-related complications through 12 months (p<0.001 for non-inferiority).
Millions of people with heart conditions receive a CIED, such as a pacemaker, implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) device, to help manage abnormal heart rhythms. As with any surgical procedure, there is risk for infection due to bacteria being introduced at the time of implant. These infections occur in 1-4 percent of all patients receiving CIED implants1,2 and are associated with substantially increased morbidity, mortality, and cost: the average cost per infection ranges from $44,000-$83,000.3-7
The World-wide Randomized Antibiotic Envelope Infection Prevention Trial (WRAP-IT)
WRAP-IT is the largest, randomized, prospective, multicenter, single-blinded, post-market, interventional, global CIED trial. It compared the incidence of major infections in patients whose CIED implantation included the TYRX envelope and patients whose procedure did not. Patients in the trial were followed for a minimum of 12 months. The trial was sponsored by Medtronic.
The study was conducted in 181 centers in 25 countries in North America, Europe, Asia and South America, and included 776 implanters. A total of 7,075 patients were enrolled from January 2015 through July 2017: 6,983 patients were randomized, with 3,495 receiving the TYRX envelope, and 3,488 randomized to the control group (without the envelope).