epicardial pacemaker

Hi, I'm new to this, but I need a little feedback. I'm going in this month for "left mini thoracodamy w/epicardial lead placement & permanent pacemaker". Needless to say, I'm terrified. I'm 58 years old and have a mechanical tricuspid valve. Does anybody know anything about this type surgery, and the recovery time?

1 Comments

Been there, done that

by golden_snitch - 2014-05-07 01:05:57

Hi Leeanne,

I have had exactly the same surgery in 2008. Unlike the normal pacemaker surgeries, this one is done under general anaesthesia, with intubation. Doesn't take too long, probably 1-2 hours. No cardiac bypass needed. You'll probably spend the first night in the ICU. It can hurt quite a bit the first couple of days, because when they go in between your ribs below the left breast, they stretch the chest muscle quite a bit. But it's no pain that cannot be controlled with some good painkillers. I was back at home after 5 days, and needed hardly anymore painkillers after that. It did, however, take me 8 weeks to bounce back. But that was mostly because I had a little pleural effusion, a subcutaneous emphysema and then developed a pleurisy after four weeks.

Years before this surgery (in 2003), I underwent a right mini thoracotomy, with two hours on the cardio-pulmonary bypass, and just three weeks later was back at university studying fulltime. So, you can definitely recover pretty quickly from a mini-thoracotomy. I really think that I only needed much more time in 2008 when the epicardial leads went in, because I had these complications.

I have heard that they are now placing epicardial leads via an even more minimal invasive approach at the clinic where I got mine in 2008. They do not have to do a mini-thoracotomy any longer, I think it's rather a keyhole surgery. However, I have no detailed info about it. Ask Dr. Google?

Is is because of the mechanical valve that you cannot have transvenous pacemaker leads?

Best wishes
Inga

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