Guidant Device

My first pacer was a Guidant installed in Jan. 2004 for sick sinus syndrome. Three weeks after a check up in December 2010, it failed. None of the cardiologists familiar with my case had ever heard of that happening, especially since three weeks prior it was shown to have about a year of battery life left.

Have any of you ever heard of that happening?

It is life threatening and if I had not waked up to go to the bathroom, my husband would have had a blue, cold spouse the next morning.

Just wondering if anyone else had experienced this scary situation.

9 Comments

Donr is right

by Grateful Heart - 2013-01-04 01:01:14

We are very interested.

What do you mean when you say

by janetinak - 2013-01-04 01:01:57

it failed. Did it go into End of Life?

Janet

The Doglady

by The Doglady - 2013-01-04 04:01:00

Also, I took 4 steps and collapsed and knew instantly something was horribly wrong. I called my husband and told him to call 911. This was about midnight. If I had not waked up, I would have died, no doubt according to my doctors.

I kept drifting in and out in the emergency room and the drugs to keep my heart beating caused intense chest pain and would wake me. Once I was transferred to the cardiac lab and a temporary device was inserted through the femoral artery, I was completely awake and aware of everything. So my memory of the hours from the collapse, ambulance ride and ER treatment are somewhat hazy.

Of course, I made a full recovery but that was certainly the worst case of syncope I have experienced to date. In fact, every time I have had syncope, I was in deep trouble - including when my first PM was inserted.

The Doglady

by The Doglady - 2013-01-04 04:01:19

I was transported to ER with heart rate of 25, BP of 60/40 and dropping.

Was kept alive by chemical means by the ER staff until the cardiologist got there about 3 AM and inserted a tiny temporary PM or something through the femoral artery. I was then transferred from the cardio lab to the ICU. Later in the afternoon, a new St. Jude was implanted. I can tell you that having your heart keep beating by chemical means is very, very painful.

None of the cardiologists familiar with my case in their collective years of practice have ever heard of a catastrophic equipment failure like I had.

It just was not my time to go.

Verrrrry Interesting!

by donr - 2013-01-04 08:01:07

Doglady, thanks for sharing that w/ us.

It was a most unique happening. Had you not survived it, we woud never have heard of its existence.

THIS is the site for those sorts of events to be discussed.

Have they ever dne a autopsy on your PM/Battery to determine why it suddenly, catastrophically died that way?

Don

More questions than answers

by donr - 2013-01-04 09:01:20

Good AM to you in Texas!

Janet asked the salient question - "How do you mean 'Failed'"?

Questions:

1) WHY did you have a PM, other than SSS. Are there more issues to the diagnosis than that?

2) What were the % pacing figures for the two chambers? If high, a 6 yr life is not too bad. Iflow, it is interesting that it only lasted that long.

3) You wrote ike you totally RELIANT on the PM. That is NOT normal for a diagnosis of SSS. Makes me believe there is more to your diagnosis than SSS. See 1) above.

4) If the PM totaly quit -went belly-up, no output at all, That would be a failure. To just go into EOL mode would be unusual, but not a failure. There is a default pacing rate in EOL that keeps you going, but feeling a bit crappy.

Don

Doglady

by The Doglady - 2013-01-04 09:01:31

The hospital threw it away! I was dumbfounded. I thought the FDA would have required that it be returned for analysis to determine the cause of such an unusual catastrophic failure. So did the cardiologists and we found out it was tossed when one of the doctors tried to find out what happened to it.

As a retired paralegal, I knew that "close calls don't count," so did not even really think of pursuing a cause of action against the manufacturer. If I had died, my husband and children would certainly have had a wrongful death case against the manufacturer and for the hospital to dispose of the device without even asking the owner (me) I feel is unconscionable.

Have not been able to determine who at that hospital made that decision. Guess I could go have a look at my medical records because something should be in there. It will be a year on the 13th of this month, so I'm over the whole affair and have just moved on.

Doglady's response

by The Doglady - 2013-01-04 10:01:55

I was initially diagnosed with SSS back in the 90's and was told at age 57 that I would need a pacemaker between the ages of 68 and 70. I was 69 and a few weeks when it was implanted. This is genetic, my dad and my brother also have/had pacemakers.

When I say it failed, the battery just stopped working. After 7 years, my condition had changed. The bottom chamber of my heart is now 100% pacer dependent and the atria is about 38% dependent.

For my age, 77, I have no heart problems, clear coronaries, etc. I just am pacemaker dependent with no other cardiac problems at all. I don't even have high blood pressure.

My cardiologist thinks I am in superb condition for my age and has given me an A-1 bill of health.

Interesting failure

by donr - 2013-01-04 11:01:32

Doglady: Very interesting failure - also very unusual. PM's & their batteries have a record of being very reliable.

Mine went south on me after about 7 yrs, also, but did it the way it was supposed to - went into its EOL routine & gace me plenty of warning. MOF, it was accurate to w/i 3 days in its predicted EOL. Predicted Tues, wet into EOL on the preceding Sat.

How did you react to the sudden failure, being 100%dependent on it for Ventricle functioning? How quicky did they replace the PM? Did you have some sort of AV Node backup thattook over & kept you going till you reached medical care for it?

I'm being nosy because this is extremely rare to occur & people will be interested in details of how it happened & what your reaction to the failure was. Especially since you are100%dependent.

Could you share more details of the occurence with us?

A comon fear ofnewbies is the kind of event you had. I always tell them that their device is as reliable as the Mars lander that landed last November or so & they need not worry about that event at all. There are literaly millions of PM's implanted every year,& this is the first report I have seen of a total battery failure since I've been associated w/this site- over three years, now. That's why I think people will be intereested in your story.

Don

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