Bad News re Lead Fracture

This is a follow up to several recent postings re my leads. I've had my PM since Sept 2010. All was going well. Skied and snow-shoed lots this winter and felt great. Had a routine phone check March 10 which showed no problem. Somewhere in late April I started noticing irregular rhythm when exercising and even a few times at home. Wore a Holter for 24 hours which didn't show much. Went to the hospital last Wednesday where they found a change in impedance which they said was probably a break in the insulation of the ventricular lead. They tried to program around it by changing the lead to unipolar. It seemed to work while in the clinic.

Had a phone check yesterday with the new Carelink Monitor they sent. They called right back and said the impedance was changing again so the "fix' WASN'T WORKING. Bummer!
They scheduled me for Monday morning to have the lead replaced. Hopefully they don't sc__w something up. I guess I need to look at it philosophically. At least it's a fixable problem and hopefully won't recur. FWIW I don't buy that it's my fault for the exercise I've done. I know lots of folks (including many here) that work out and hike with no problem.

Will keep you posted.

Harry

5 Comments

Fractured lead

by Gellia3 - 2011-05-19 12:05:29

Hi,
I agree with you about exercise. I spent most of my years of horseback riding by falling off! Never once hurt a lead.

But, flip over in bed one night and POP! Squashed my ventricle lead and it snapped into two. Luckily, mine was an easy fix. The break was very close to the terminal head on the pacemaker body so they were able to use a connector, or as my dr said, "duct tapped me together!". So far so good. That was 10 years ago and the fix has held fine.

I hope your fix is as easy.
Best to you and GOOD LUCK!

Gellia

CARELINK

by complex - 2011-05-21 06:05:22

We are so lucky to have Carelink today. It is truly a wonderful tool. For the pacers it is helpful, for the ICD's and BI-V's it is a blessing.

kimoswim

by kimoswim - 2011-05-22 07:05:03

anyone experienced a "capped" lead wire in RA.??
First PM installed 7/2007 and replaced 5/2011 with
new StJudePM. old lead wires ruled good to leave in
but during surgery old RA lead would not fasten to
new PM. Surgeon pulled out old RA lead wire but
left the screw head imbedded in Atrial wall and "capped"
it. then put in new RA lead wire,imbedded, and connected other end to PM. question why leave
a "capped" screw head in there? long term effects?
shouldnt Cardio surgeon have lasered out old
screw head??

New Post

by Creaky - 2011-05-22 10:05:10

You should probably post this as a new thread. Not likely to be seen down here.
Harry

lead removal

by shockbox340 - 2011-05-23 12:05:53

kimoswim,

Older leads are commonly left in place until the risk of lead extraction is warranted. Lasering the leads out sounds like a piece of cake, and it usually is, but the risk of serious complications is actually higher from the extraction from the original implant or by merely adding a new lead and capping the old one.

Today doctors weigh a lot of factors when deciding whether or not to extract, like pacemaker vs ICD, age of the patient, whether or not there is room in the vein to add a new lead, ect. Bottom line, leaving that old lead in place is the least risky option. No worries!

You know you're wired when...

You run like the bionic woman.

Member Quotes

As for my pacemaker (almost 7 years old) I like to think of it in the terms of the old Timex commercial - takes a licking and keeps on ticking.