Pacemaker Club: lead wire

lead wire

by aldeer
2008-01-30 11:01:02
Batteries & Leads
1927 views
3 comments

No such thing as a dumb question? O.K. here goes one. Does the lead wire go thru a vein or just under the skin directly to the heart and hook up there? and how? After your answer, I won't have to wonder. :) aldeer

3 Comments

it depends . . .

by Harry'sMommy - 2008-01-30 10:01:38

Hello!
My son's leads are located outside of his veins, but that is because he is young (got his pm when he was 18 months old) and the pm is located in his abdomen, not his shoulder. I know adults with the pm located in a variety of places--I really think that your best bet is to ask your cardiologist about the location of your leads.
Good luck :)
Harry's Mommy

Same Vein

by heckboy - 2008-01-30 12:01:16

My leads go down the vein and attach to the heart from the inside. My ventricular lead is attached to the septum. The theory is that the wave created from the charge goes down the heart and back up, mimicing the natural heart pump.

Wire location

by ElectricFrank - 2008-01-31 12:01:10

Its been pretty well explained above, but I'll say it my way! Unless there is something unusual such as the 18 month old it is pretty standard to insert the leads into the subclavian vein where they are fished into the heart and attached to the appropriate spots. There are several attachment methods. One is the barb which is pressed in and another is a spiral tip which is screwed in. Mine is the screw type, but I don't thing there is any real advantage.
After a week or so the lead is surrounded by tissue in the vein, which supplies support for it. This is one of the reasons for not raising your arm for the first 1-2 weeks. Once the leads are attached to the vein there is less chance of pulling one out of the heart wall.
I've always wondered why this was such an issue though when you consider that the heart wall is rapidly moving with each heart beat. If it was likely to come out I would think this would do it. I asked cardiologist about this and he said he had never thought about it and it is just part of the instructions.

frank