Pacemaker Removal

Has anyone had an experience with pm removal?

I had a pm installed last week. I was told that it would address my tachycardia. At the post-operative checkup today I was told that it will not address tachycardia but only a slow pulse. I had one three-second instance of slow pulse in the past nine months. The pacemaker has not triggered since it was installed and likely never will.

I've advised my cardiologist that I want it removed since it was put in without my full understanding of what it was going to do and under misleading circumstances. I am not going to have a pacemaker sitting in my chest when there is no valid reason for me to have one.

I'm told that it has to be done prior to six weeks postop otherwise the leads will be held in by scar tissue.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Thanks.

2 Comments

Marvin

by IAN MC - 2015-08-07 04:08:52

I guess people who have had their PMs permanently removed are no longer members of the PM club so you may not get many responders on that one.

But your PM could have a place in the treatment of your tachycardia . This is because it allows drugs to be used at sufficient dosage to reduce your heart rate . If they cause your HR to fall too low then the PM takes care of that and puts in extra beats.

Certainly if you want it removed , do it quickly ! It all depends on how well controlled your tachycardia is and whether or not your cardiologist wanted your PM to play a part in his planned drug treatments.

Best of luck

Ian

Lead removal

by golden_snitch - 2015-08-08 05:08:27

Hi Marvin!

Removal of leads can be tricky, if they have been in for many years. But in the first couple of years they can usually be removed quite easily. Doesn't have to happen until six weeks after placement. I had a lead removed two years after implant, and it was an easy procedure. Know a few patients who also had leads removed after 2-5 years - in none of them the procedure was difficult. But I also know patients in whom they tried to remove leads that had been in for 10-15 years, and that turned out to be really difficult.

I understand why you want the pacemaker to be removed. I'd suggest that, if you have already taken this decision, get it done as soon as possible. There was a young patient in a different online forum who recently had her whole pacemaker system, incl. leads, removed after two years. She had been diagnosed with sick sinus, but this diagnosis wasn't correct. The pacemaker never kicked in, but she was having pain around the pacemaker pocket. So, she had the system removed - and she's perfectly fine now.

Best wishes!

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