Pacemaker Club: CT Pulminary Angiogram

CT Pulminary Angiogram

by Heidiglassmeyer
2010-06-20 01:06:05
Complications
1373 views
2 comments

Hi! I had posted last week regarding chest pains. We'll I'm back in the hospital (pray you never have to be admitted on a Friday!) and in a holding pattern till Monday for a cath. I was looking at my records from last weeks stay and notes from my CT Pulminart Angiogram stated: Significant stenosis of the left subclavian vein present. I have a dual lead pacemaker. Does anyone know if this is normal due to the leads? I have not seen my Cardio since I read the results to ask. Happy Fathers Day to all the Dad's!

2 Comments

Test Results

by Bill-2 - 2010-06-20 01:06:41

I have to say to say it is not normal, or at least I never heard of pacemaker leads causing stenosis, but that doesn't mean they can't. While the CT would "see" the leads, it is possible the blockage is not as great as it appears on CT report.

I have always been told the leads kind of buried themselves in vein wall tissue and impede blood flow very little. But wait for the cardiologist to tell you what is going on before reaching conclusions.

I say this not to disturb you, but to emphasize the need to let our doctors tell us what is going, but I saw you earlier post about the chest pain. While I didn't comment my thought was "that sounds a lot like my symptoms before I had a heart attack which was followed by bypass surgery." What it all comes down to is the same symptoms can mean totally different problems for different people.

stenosis

by Tracey_E - 2010-06-20 02:06:29

Short term, no not normal. Long term, yes it happens sometimes. It looks like your pm is new, so it's unlikely it's caused by the pm.

This is just a guess, but the definition of stenosis is simply a narrowing. I suspect having the leads in there by definition would make us all appear to have stenosis at a glance and that what your reading is probably nothing. I'd ask the dr before losing any sleep over it.