Collapsed right lung

Just wondering if anyone has had or ever heard of anyone getting a collapsed right lung post pacemaker???

5 Comments

Yes I had collapsed left lung

by jane32 - 2012-03-02 11:03:58

I was kept in hospital for 4 days, they put a drain in which was very painful. Apart from being very bruised I had no ill effects afterwards. I think there is only about 1% chance of it happening. Hope you are recovering well.

Collapsed lung at PPM implant

by shockbox340 - 2012-03-03 10:03:27

Collapsed lungs are not a common complication from a pacemaker insertion, but they do happen. The most common reason is when the physician accesses the venous system with a needle stick, and when attempting to make that stick the needle hits the top of the lung lobe on the same side as the pacemaker placement.

Since most pacemakers are placed on the left side and you stated your problem was with your right lung, is it safe to assume you have a pacemaker on your right side? If not, you most likely received your collapsed lung through some much less common cause.

Collapsed lungs are unfomfortable, but are typically treatable and completely reversable with no long term effects.

Best of luck!

shockbox

collapsed lung

by riodog - 2012-03-03 11:03:17

Yes, I had problems. The CRT-D was implanted on a Tues under emergency conditions. They discharged me on that Fri. late and I got home around 8 pm. 2 hrs later I coughed and I got zapped twice, about 5-10 min apart. Woke my husband, called for an ambulance and by the time they got there I was really not with it anymore. I was told they had to use paddles in the ambulance after I got zapped again. Don't remember that zap at all tho I have a hazy memory of being in the ambulance in the driveway and them working on me. Two weeks later I got to come home again. Dr. told me I'd had a large pneumothorax because my lung had been punctured during the implantation. I remember very little of those two weeks cause they had me on morphine, etc. and I apparently get hallucinations when on morphine. Why it wasn't caught in the hospital before I was released the first time I have no idea. I guess sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're not. I prefer to think I was very lucky the second time around. I got home.
By the way, I too was told it was very rare to have a lung punctured but check the archive and you'll see it's not as rare as it's cracked up to be.

gretchen

collapsed r lung

by cjohn - 2012-03-04 05:03:46

My implant was on the left side but it was my right lung that collapsed. I had a hemopneumothorax. They drew off 250 cc's of blood! I'm on the mend though thank the Lord!! I was wondering just how rare it is.

lung collape

by Rodlyn - 2012-03-22 01:03:53

Yes! My lung collapsed the next morning after my first implantation many years ago. I was sitting in the bed and felt a zipper like sensation to my chest. I called the nurse and said I thought it might be the lead shocking me. She called and I went to get an xray. I was unable to stand for it due to weakness and shortness of breath. They put me into bed and took the xray,then said the lung had collapsed. The lung sometimes gets punctured with insertion. I had to have a chest tube inserted. They had to put it in twice as the first one missed the mark. I was better in two days and they removed it. I have since had the pacer replaced for routine battery changes with no problems. I guess we were just the unlucky ones.

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