Pacemaker Removal

Hi Everyone

I am 15 years old and have had a pacemaker ever since I was a few months old. After a few years my first pacemaker stopped working. It was placed below my ribs. That pacemaker was removed and a new one was put in on the left side of my chest. I have hypervagatonia which caused my heart to slow down when I was young for the smallest things such as accidentally hitting myself with a toy I would pass out. As I have grown up my symptoms have gone away. There has always been a concern of my leads breaking due to me growing but that has not happened. At my last appoinment my cardiologist told me that I do not need my pacemaker anymore and I am one of the few that outgrow the condition. He said that they will leave the leads in because it would be dangerous to take them out due to scar tissue being they have been in for nearly my whole life. My next appointment is in June of 2019 and I believe it is my pre-op. Has anyone else gone through removal of just the pacemaker and leaving in the leads? My cardiologist said they have done this to only one other person my age and everything I google for how safe it is comes up with lead extraction as well. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this. If anyone has any personal experience I would really appreciate to hear it because I am personally a little scared for the surgery.


3 Comments

Amazing

by Jered - 2018-12-09 09:13:31

That is amazing that your body healed it self over time and I know surgeries are scary anyone who says there not lying however remember your doc trained many many years and does similar work all the time I’m really happy for you enjoy this gift 

Happy

by doublehorn48 - 2018-12-09 17:13:21

I am truly happy to hear your story.  You have made my day.  What great news.

Thanks for sharing,

M. Scott

Don't worry

by Sibber - 2018-12-15 09:30:51

Removal of the device is simple. The leads are 'screwed' into the header and so they will be unscrewed then capped and buried in the abdomen. It's likely that this will be done under GA due to the location. The only downside of leaving the leads is that some places won't allow an MRI scan.

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Member Quotes

The pacer systems are really very reliable. The main problem is the incompetent programming of them. If yours is working well for you, get on with life and enjoy it. You probably are more at risk of problems with a valve job than the pacer.