2nd surgery for wrongly placed lead wire??

• by kubie
• 2010-01-05 07:01:29
• General Posting
• 803 views
• 0 comments

Is 2nd Surgery nec to correct lead wire prob?
Comment posted by kubie on 2010-01-05 18:35.
My husband had emergency Surgery on Nov. 8th, 2009 when his PM was first implanted. We were "out of network" for the surgery, as this was determined to be an emergency. He is 66 yrs old & generally in good health. He had suffered from syncope & dizziness for several months & had a gazillion heart tests prior to his PM implant.

Anyway, DH had a Right Branch Bundle Block. His PM has two lead wires, if I understood both MD & PM Technician correctly. One is called an arterial lead & the other a ventricle lead. The arterial lead appears to be ok & properly placed.

The ventricle lead wire was not properly placed to begin with. The reading on this lead wire was supposed to be from 3 to 8. DH was told his reading immediately after surgery was 1.2 - 1.9. This was still within acceptable range, he was told by both the surgeon & technician.

By the time we left the hospital, it was reading 1.5. It was reading 1.2 when DH had his 1st appointment with the cardiologist & technician three weeks after the surgery. It was reading only 1 when DH had his one month appointment (which actually was almost two months after the surgery).

The surgeon told us he made a professional decision NOT to correct his error (my words, not his) at the time of the original surgery. He did not inform us of a problem at that time & let us make our own decisions, btw. I would have been inclined to fix the problem immediately or as close to immediate as possible, had I been asked for a decision while DH was "still under."

DH has a St. Jude PM with Medtronic lead wires. Is Medtronic still having trouble with its lead wires?? If so, why would the surgeon choose these over St. Jude lead wires for the St. Jude device??

IS this typical for the Medtronic lead wires?? Is this 2nd surgery necessary? Should the 1st surgeon correct his problem?? Should we go to University Hospital (DH's insurance network) & have the 2nd surgeon correct the problem of the1st surgeon??

Are we being bounced around -- because of the insurance network issue?? Prior to surgery, we raised these questions, but could not get anyone to talk to us about this insurance network issue -- DH's primary care MD was conveniently "out of town", his insurance network cardiologist only works on weekdays (this was a weekend), etc, & didn't return our request for a "personal consultation call" before we decided to do the PM with the local cardiologist who is "out of network".

The surgeon is very pleasant & always full of smiles & "don't worry" about the ins network comments. However, I am convinced this original surgeon is stonewalling us, as he gives a 90 day guarantee on his work (weird for a medical procedure, I think). He appears to be trying to get us past the 90 day mark before he makes a decision to correct HIS original error. Then the PM fix will have to be done at another location by another surgeon. Convenient that then both surgeons will actually collect $$$ from the insurance company!!!

Should we contact Cleveland Clinic for advice?? Should we trust DH's original surgeon?? (already I have major doubts about his qualifications AND his integrity re the original surgery & the repair which should have been done immediately, I believe -- which I mentioned before DH was dismissed from the hospital.)

Please share your personal experiences & knowledge on “corrective surgery” for improperly placed lead wires so soon after the original PM implant.

What exactly are the heart & PM problems DH will face with a poorly wired PM should the original (& network” MD, too) MD determine not to do a 2nd surgery (which he has been inclined to do so far).

Thanks for any help & words of wisdom from all of you out there.

Looking for online MD eval
Comment posted by kubie on 2010-01-05 18:37.
Where can I get FREE info & eval of all local MDs, incl cardiologists, surgeons, etc??