Risk to pacemaker from Cardioversion

I’ve had a pacemaker since 2008. No problems. Battery has 14 projected months.

In the last 6 months I have developed Atrial Fibrillation and the Dr. wants to do a Cardioversion to attempt to restore sinus rhythm.

Questions...

1. Will external defibrillation destroy a pacemaker (or the leads)?

2. Is there some special approach needed to electrically cardiovert a person wearing a pacemaker?

3. If the cardioversion fails, and an ablation is needed, can an RF ablation be done while a pacemaker is in place?

Thanks for your insight.

O6

(Would love to hear from someone who lived through it.)

1 Comments

Successful story

by jane32 - 2012-01-12 07:01:24

I had a cardioversion 10 weeks after getting my pm in August 2011, and had no problems. The local cardiologist who did it was aware of my pm so took care.
He is a german Dr and worked for sometime on programs for pms so I feel very lucky to have someone so qualified looking after me. He made sure the pads were put away from my pm site. It worked first time and I have felt great since. He also did an interrogation after procedure and I was allowed to go home 3 hours later.

All the best
Jane

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