Cardiac implantable electronic device infections: impact of initiation of antimicrobial treatment before or after device removal on microbiological yield

The need for starting antimicrobial therapy before device removal in cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) infections is still a matter of debate owing to the lack of randomized controlled trials. Most of the current knowledge comes from case series, retrospective studies, pharmacological data, and expert opinions [1–4]. The aim of our study was to analyse the impact of antimicrobial therapy on the microbiological yield in patients who started antimicrobials before (PRE) or after (POST) CIED removal.