Lead/Scar tissue issues...

My son who is only 2 1/2 years old had his 1st pacemaker put in June of 09 and then his 2nd pacemaker put in April of 10. Both times they put in a St Jude's Pacemaker and the reason for replacement was due to 1 lead forming scar tissue over it and draining the battery. 3 months after the surgery in April we found out that it once again had happened again, so a battery that is supposed to last my little boy 5years does good to last one year...So he will have surgery again this year. Because of his weight he has to have it put in his stomach and they have to open the bottom part of his heart everytime. He has 2 leads the LV lead is the one that keeps going bad, My question is has anyone had this type of problem before? Would it make a difference to change the type of pacemaker? Any insight at all is welcome...Thank You

1 Comments

the same with my daughter

by lok - 2011-04-26 06:04:17

My daughter who will be 11 tomorrow has/have had exactly the same problem and after having searched the web for info, I have found other examples of the same issue although it is quite rare. She had her first pm in 2007, her 2nd in 2009 and her 3rd in 2010 and we are of course hoping that this will not keep happening. It is also her ventricular lead that has caused problems, needing more and more voltage until it cannot produce enough voltage and she has felt dizzy. They have tried to place her LV lead in her apex (bottom of her heart) instead of in her septum, and we just keep our fingers crossed living with the risk. Nobody can tell me the exact reason, other than for the rare patient it seems as the heart muscle doesn't like the lead to be there and it keeps rejecting it although not visibly on x-ray, a so called micro dislodgement or exit block. But it does happen - but I am afraid that I have no solution for you.
Best wishes Lonni

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