That's a lot of metalwork.

At recent angiogram my doctor looked up at the screen and said:"there's a lot of metalwork in there." He was, I assumed, referring to the two damaged leads which had been replaced but not removed on a previous occasion.
As a distraction, I asked him how many leads he could fit into a vein.He replied:(smartarse). "How many would you like? I could get another pair in this side and then start on the left."
But. What's the truth of it? Is it OK to leave leads in and how many can actually be inserted?
For info I also have a prostate full of titanium. But he didn't know that!
Regards.
Graham

2 Comments

depends

by Tracey_E - 2012-12-14 10:12:59

Newer leads are smaller than the old ones. I thought the limit was 3-4 on the left side depending on the size of the leads and our build, not sure about the right but I think the veins are larger on the right.

My pm is put in from the side and buried under the breast, the leads are put in from the usual spot and run down to the pm. I got a new lead a couple of years ago and it ends up in the same vein but they put it in from an auxiliary vein. My chest xray roughly resembles a bowl of spaghetti :o)

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Lead removal can be dangerous

by Droid - 2013-01-09 02:01:34

The problem with removed damaged leads is that the inside of the heart is very fibrous. Tissue grows around the end of the lead, making it attach to the inside of the heart. Trying to remove this lead can cause quite a bit of damage to the tissue inside the heart and is very risky.

Check with your cardiologist and see if there are any new technologies available for removing implanted leads. Hopefully you won't need new leads.

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