Bruce L. Wilkoff, MD, remembered for ‘immeasurable’ contributions to electrophysiology
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Key takeaways:
- Bruce L. Wilkoff, MD, whose work showed how to extract faulty cardiac device leads safely, has died.
- Wilkoff, past president of the Heart Rhythm Society, was a pioneer in prevention of sudden cardiac death.
Healio | Cardiology Today Editorial Board Member Bruce L. Wilkoff, MD, FACC, FHRS, FAHA, an electrophysiologist who performed groundbreaking research in lead extraction, has died, Cleveland Clinic and the Heart Rhythm Society announced.
Wilkoff, who was also a pioneer in how to use device therapy to prevent sudden cardiac death and how to prevent unintended consequences from device therapies, died Jan. 7 at age 69 years, according to an obituary posted on cleveland.com.
The HRS made the following announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter: “HRS mourns the loss of past president and pioneer in the field of cardiac EP, Bruce Wilkoff. He dedicated his career to preventing sudden death, but his contributions to the field are immeasurable. Among his many honors and accomplishments, Dr. Wilkoff was recently informed he is this year’s recipient of the Pioneer in Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology Award. Dr. Wilkoff will be missed.”
Cleveland Clinic issued the following statement to Healio: “It is with great sadness that we share that Dr. Bruce Wilkoff passed away on Jan. 7. Dr. Wilkoff was the director of cardiac pacing and tachyarrhythmia devices and a beloved staff cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic for 37 years. He was also a respected professor of medicine at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Wilkoff was recognized as an international expert in lead extraction and the design of new technologies to improve the performance of pacemakers and defibrillators. He contributed greatly to his field — authoring hundreds of professional journal articles, running numerous clinical trials and holding several patents. Dr. Wilkoff saved and improved the lives of thousands of patients over his extensive career and will be greatly missed by the many patients, colleagues, trainees and friends that he has impacted.”
Oussama Wazni, MD, MBA, section head of cardiac electrophysiology and pacing and director of the outpatient electrophysiology department and co-director of the Ventricular Arrhythmia Center, Center for Atrial Fibrillation and the Atrial Fibrillation Stroke Prevention Center and the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, told Healio that Wilkoff “was a big contributor and pioneer in defibrillators and prevention of sudden cardiac death. Another aspect is that he realized early on that excessive pacing from the right ventricle can cause heart failure.
“The biggest contribution, though — and this is what he was really well known for across the globe — was his work on extraction of leads or lead management,” Wazni told Healio. “He was one of the pioneers on lead extraction and helped develop a lot of the tools that made it safer and more accessible to more people around the world. For example, the LEXICON study, which I worked with him on, showed that extractions can be done safely in the vast majority of patients. People think extraction is dangerous, but this study and others he led showed it really isn’t. Before, people would abandon leads and not extract them when they had the opportunity to do so. We showed that kind of practice is detrimental to patients in the long term.”
Wazni said Wilkoff placed a high value on education through his work with HRS and in clinical practice, and “quickly honed in to what is really at issue and how we should deal with it. He was focused on patient care. He really cared about his patients and his colleagues. He was always helpful and collaborative. He was a clear communicator, whether to his colleagues or his patients. I hope that at the Clinic we will continue to showcase his work and make sure his legacy lives on.”
In an interview with Healio in 2015, Wilkoff said one of his greatest successes was “bringing along the concept of lead management, which includes transvenous lead extraction, a focus on treating infections of devices, and how to reduce the morbidity of pacemaker and defibrillator therapy. Another area I think I’ve influenced is the connecting of medical data from computer to computer and from person to person, so that it is easily accessible to everybody.”
References:
- Cleveland.com. https://obits.cleveland.com/us/obituaries/cleveland/name/bruce-wilkoff-obituary?id=54045735. Accessed Jan. 10, 2024.
- Heart Rhythm Society. https://x.com/HRSonline/status/1744484731289305459?s=20. Accessed Jan. 10, 2024.
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