Medtronic Lead Problem

I received a call from my cardiologist last week asking me to come into the office to get my lead checked as I have the serial number for the defective defibrillator lead. Of course I am concerned about having a fractured lead and I may choose to have the entire unit turned off instead of facing an "iffy" surgery.
Have any of you ICD owners gone for your initial appt. yet on the recalled lead? Are you choosing to have it replaced and what info did you receive that helped you make that decision?
I have only seen a few postings as of the past few days.
Thanks so much for your replies. Debbie

4 Comments

lead recall

by luckyloo - 2007-10-21 09:10:51

dear debbie,

i don't have the lead but have read on other sites what other dr.'s are doing. apparently they can set an alarm so the device will sound if something is wrong with the lead. the device will run a check...you won't feel it or anything...every day. also they are getting hooked up with a telephone check monitor. i actually do this because i havce a recalled guidant device. the company sends you a machine that you plug into your phone system. it will tell you what day to check your device. you place that wand over your device and push the "check" button. it takes a few seconds then sends your device info to the company. you don't feel anything. apparently this type of monitoring is very detailed. the company sends the report and all the info to your dr.

i haven't heard of anyone being advised to replace the lead. lead extraction has a lot of risks to it and it must be done by dr.'s who are experienced.

when i had a fractured lead...i received an inappropriate shock. the friction caused by the 2 ends rubbing was picked up as an irratic heartbeat by my defib. it was my ventricular lead that fractured.

hope this helps.

luckyloo

lead recall

by huskersnb2 - 2007-10-21 10:10:34

hello i have a bad unit to my doctor is letting me decide on what to do right now it is turned off becuase i got shocked 11 times with in a 12 hour period but right now my heart % is a little over 40 was 15% so i have to decide to on what to do i can not tell u what to do becuase im not your doctor i would set down with him and decide as for me we decided to leave it off a little while but the more i think about it it aint going to help me if its off witch ever way u go it will be risky may god be with us all duane

lead recall

by lindalouwho54 - 2007-10-29 09:10:08

I met with my cardiologist today. I have one of the affected models, but mine seems to be working fine, so far. He is recommending just continuing with my regular 3-month pacemaker checks & 6 month visits. I see the cardiologist who did the implant next week. My understanding is that he will reprogram the unit so that it beeps if there's a problem. I will update this if I find out differently.

MRSMAXNO1

by MRSNO1MAX - 2007-11-01 12:11:13

I also have the bad lead but I'm pacemaker dependent. That means that if my machine shuts off I'm in trouble.
I also hear that to replace the lead can be very dangerous. My doctor didn't call me I saw it on the news. Needless to say I have a new doctor and I'm going to a pacemaker clinic to get it check from now on. He Ajusted the alarm so I can hear it if it goes off but my question to him was I'm in big trouble right and his answer was probably. Good going Medtronic.

You know you're wired when...

Your device acts like a police scanner.

Member Quotes

A properly implanted and adjusted pacemaker will not even be noticeable after you get over the surgery.