Scientific Program 2026
Day 1 – Friday, Dec 11
MODERATORS: Christoph Starck (Berlin), Nigel Lever (Auckland)
| 08:00 | Registration and Welcome Coffee |
| 09:00 | Opening Remarks — welcome and audience-survey headlines C. Starck, N. Lever |
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SESSION 1: The 2026 Consensus and Contemporary Standards |
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| 09:15 |
The 2026 A. Breitenstein (Zurich) |
| 09:35 |
Extract vs. abandon in non-infected, redundant leads - the 2025/26 evidence M. Gallagher (London) |
| 09:55 |
The three most important TLE publications of 2025/26 - the papers you cannot afford to miss C. Starck (Berlin) |
| 10:15 |
INTERACTIVE - Panel discussion with live Slido polling — “What did you change in your practice this year?” all speakers + audience |
| 10:45 | Coffee Break |
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SESSION 2: CIED Infection and Vegetations — Closing the Guideline–Practice Gap |
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| 11:15 |
CIED infection management in 2026: the Brigham approach to early extraction and the guideline-practice gap B. Schuler (Boston, Brigham) |
| 11:35 |
Vegetation debulking before extraction: catheter-based and ICEguided approaches in 2026 S. Westra (Nijmegen) |
| 11:55 |
Persistent bacteremia after extraction: what to do when the infection won't go away F. Bracke (Eindhoven) |
| 12:15 |
INTERACTIVE - Pro/Con mini-debate + audience vote: “The 2 cm vegetation — debulk first, or extract directly?” Pro-debulk: S. Westra | Pro-direct extract: B. Schuler |
| 12:45 | Lunch Break |
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SESSION 3: Interactive Case-Based Session – “The Art of the Difficult Extraction” |
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| 14:00 | Case 1 — the difficult case the audience chose first L. Rademakers (Eindhoven) |
| 14:20 | Case 2 K. Bode (Leipzig) |
| 14:40 | Case 3 M. Sohal (London) |
| 15:00 | Case 4 O. Al-Razzo (Madrid) |
| 15:20 | Case 5 G. Domenichini (Lausanne) |
| 15:40 | Case 6 A. Sommer (Aarhus) |
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16:00 |
Coffee Break |
| SESSION 4: Special Populations and Risk Stratification | |
| 16:30 | Sex-specific outcomes in TLE: the EROS score, 2026 matchedcohort data and what has changed G. Milasinovic (Belgrade) |
| 16:50 | 25 years of lead extraction: what have we really learned? A senior reflective view F. Gadler (Stockholm) |
| 17:10 | INTERACTIVE Sex-specific outcomes in TLE: the EROS score, 2026 matchedcohort data and what has changed G. Milasinovic (Belgrade) |
| Pre-TTVI lead management: extract early or jail? tba | |
| The LBBAP lead you don't want to touch K. Saleh (Linz) | |
| When extraction is futile: the ethical boundary S. Richter (Dresden) | |
| 17:30 | INTERACTIVE Panel + Slido “Which risk score do you actually use?” all speakers + audience |
| 17:45 | Close of Day 1 |
| 20:00 | ILEEM 2026 Networking Dinner — modest, program-related |
Day 2 – Saturday, Dec 12
MODERATORS: Christoph Starck (Berlin), Nigel Lever (Auckland)
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SESSION 5: New Devices and Their Lifecycle |
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| 09:00 | Conduction-system pacing (CSP) lead extraction: TECSPAM, EXTRACT and the lumenless lead tba |
| 09:20 | Leadless pacemaker retrieval: tools, techniques, dwell-time, and what the 2026 Consensus says R. Schaerf (Los Angeles) |
| 09:40 | The modern extraction toolbox: jugular snare, femoral pull-through and tandem approaches Z. Akhtar (London) |
| 10:00 | INTERACTIVE Panel + Slido “Which device would you NOT implant today?” all speakers + audience |
| 10:30 | Coffee Break |
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SESSION 6: The Two-Device Problem — Lead Management in the TTVI Era |
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| 11:00 | Lead management in the era of transcatheter tricuspid interventions: TRIPLACE registry and the 2025 EHRA/EAPCI statement N. Lever (Auckland) |
| 11:20 | EV-ICDs: 3-year Pivotal Study data, Enlighten registry and implications for lead extractability A. Breitenstein (Zurich) |
| 11:40 | INTERACTIVE Pro/Con mini-debate: “Before TTVR — extract the lead or jail it?” Pro-extract: M. Sohal (London) | Pro-jail: K. Saleh (Linz) |
| 12:00 | INTERACTIVE Panel + Slido on the pre-TTVI heart-team decision all speakers + audience |
| 12:30 | Lunch Break |
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SESSION 7: Bailout, Safety and the Surgical Interface |
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| 13:30 | Bailout strategies for the SVC and central veins: contemporary management of the highest-risk complications C. Starck (Berlin) |
| 13:50 | Extractions and the surgical conversion decision: when transvenous is not enough M. Jalava (Turku) |
| 14:10 | INTERACTIVE Fail Forum — three short, blameless case vignettes: what went wrong, what we learned |
| Vignette 1 — cardiac tamponade G. Milasinovic (Belgrade) | |
| Vignette 2 — vascular tear H. Rosianu (Cluj-Napoca) | |
| Vignette 3 — lead fracture mid-procedure M. Grabowski (Warsaw) | |
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SESSION 8: Bring Your Case & Building a Safe TLE Program |
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| 14:30 | INTERACTIVE “Bring Your Case & We Will Discuss” — participant-submitted cases on the day, with live Slido polling Panel: Starck I Lever I Gallagher I tba I Schaerf I Breitenstein |
| 15:15 | Training, credentialing and building a safe TLE program — the St George’s model and the 2026 Consensus recommendations M. Gallagher (London) |
| 15:40 | INTERACTIVE Closing Panel + Outlook to ILEEM 2027 — what we need in the data for next year Starck I Lever I Gallagher I tba I Schaerf I Breitenstein |
