Turning the pacer off

I was going to have nose surgery until the surgeon discovered I had a pacer. He stated that they would have to get a representative from the pacer maker to turn the pacer off prior to and during surgery sincw it will cause problems with the anestesia.
Anyone ever hear of this? wow! What if I needed emergency surgery?
Ken

8 Comments

pacer off

by thomast - 2009-08-20 01:08:10

Have had two surgerys where they put me to sleep since getting a PM/ICD. The subject of turning off the pacer never came up. Just had to go off blood thinners for 5 days prior to the surgery.

Thomas

Turning the Pacer off!

by GrandmaD - 2009-08-20 01:08:49


Having had surguries since my PM implant, this has never come up. Being dependant very close to 100%, worried me, but I never experienced any problems. The differance may have been that the surgeries were done at the same hospital that the original implant had been done at.

yep

by Tracey_E - 2009-08-20 06:08:11

It's not bad, but pacemakers do cause a minor concern with anesthesia. It's not a big deal to handle, they just have to know about it.

It's important for all of us to wear a medic alert for emergencies. This will guarantee that if we are taken by ambulance, we always are taken to a hospital that has the equipment to read in a pm. Not all emergency rooms/hospitals do so seeing that medic alert can make a big difference in how they handle us at an accident scene. You would not want to end up in a situation where you needed emergency surgery and had to be transferred to a different facility.

Pacers off?

by Bionic Beat - 2009-08-20 08:08:58

I'm 100% pacemaker dependent and had a very major, 6 hour op last fall.

They didn't turn my pm off but there was staff from the PM Clinic in the OR before they knocked me out.

There were also 3 anaesthetists, one of whom was there solely for the pacemaker monitoring.

I also had to come off my coumadin and have shots for about 6 days both before and after the surgery.

I came through the op with flying colours, no problems at all....but it was also done at the hospital where I had my heart ops done earlier.

Best wishes,

Bionic Beat

Interesting question

by ElectricFrank - 2009-08-20 11:08:06

Why does the pacer need to be off during anesthesia? The body still needs adequate blood flow. Might want to set it to a fixed rate mode.

just wondered,

frank

crazy thinking?

by jessie - 2009-08-21 03:08:04

i had simple surgery. a d&c during which i arranged to have a local and painkillers. it was over quickly and i had no general anesthetic. it helped i knew the anesthesiologist from years before but he made jokes about me coming back and visiting more often since i was so relaxed. sick or what but i laughed at his sick humour.so no i don't see why? jessie

off or on

by Tracey_E - 2009-08-21 06:08:42

Frank, I don't think they turn it off but I think they put it in test mode. I don't know why and I could be wrong!

Probably a CYA

by ElectricFrank - 2009-08-21 10:08:44

One more thing to ask about and insist on a good answer before surgery. I guess the best thing is to not need surgery!

frank

You know you're wired when...

You have a shocking personality.

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