Bruising and swelling

I'm new here. I had my pace maker put in January 2013. Everything was going fine until I had surgery 3 weeks ago. Surgery went fine and had nothing to do with pace maker. I've been having chest pains and went to the ER. They did a Chest X-ray and a CT scan with contrast to rule out blood clots. Everything came back normal. I noticed yesterday swelling  kinda near pacemaker and a bruise. I didn't hit or bump it. They noticed on X-ray that the ventricular lead wasn't in the normal common place. It was recommended for it to be redone. I just wonder if anyone has had problems like this or what was done. The ER dr made me feel like I was out of my mind. Any information or help would be great!

3 Comments

Displaced lead

by TAC - 2017-08-22 17:27:51

Occasionally, the leads may break or get dislodged. It's uncommon but it happens once in a while. The doctor will have to reattach the lead and if broken, it will be removed and replaced with a new lead. These incidents are not a big deal, but they need to be corrected. There is no alternative.

leads

by Tracey_E - 2017-08-23 09:28:30

Who said the lead was in an odd spot? Unless it's the ep, I would take that with a grain of salt. Unless someone deals with pacers and leads all day long, they aren't qualified to say. A lead isn't going to suddenly move after 4 years. After the first year, the scar tissue holds them in place so well that it takes a specialized laser procedure to get them out. If you are pacing, your lead is in a position where it's working. 

Any new swelling, heat, redness, streaks near the pacer should be evaluated for infection asap. Insist on cultures. If it is an infection, it needs to be treated aggressively so it's important to know exactly what you're dealing with. Sometimes they will give us antibiotics and take a wait and see attitude, but that's not good enough. You could waste time on the wrong antibiotic and in that time the infection can spread enough that they have to remove your device and leads because they can't risk the infection going down the leads into the heart.  Hopefully that's not the case, but the potential complications are serious enough that we can't take chances. 

Bruising over the chest after surgery.

by Selwyn - 2017-08-24 14:34:36

Probably where the doctor rested his/her elbow whilst doing the surgery!

There are many reasons why the chest wall can get damaged during routine surgery: just being lifted incorrectly is one.  Having the skin moved by rubbbing ( eg. lavage after a spill) etc is another. 

Surely, they can compare the old lead position with the new one and see if there is a change of position. If the lead has always been in that position, since 2013, I would not bother with having it moved, all being well previously. 

TRUE STORY:I never did find out whether the lady I assisted, as a medical student,  with a hip replacement, was bruised; if took 4 strong men ( 2 pulling at the shoulders, and 2 on the leg), to reduce  back into the socket the newly replaced hip. I sprained my back! I can only presume that the hip was never prone to dislocation.  Who knows about the bruising?

Kind regards,

Selwyn

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