Lead to vein interface

Hi Everyone,

I am 44 years old and scheduled on Wednesday for a Biventricular pacemaker for cardiac resynchronization. I am very nervous about this upcoming procedure and keep coming up with questions in my mind. Does anyone know how the lead interfaces with the vein that they place it in? How does the vein seal around the lead? I assume it’s a hole in the blood vessel with a wire sticking thru it. With all the pressure building up in the blood vessel, how does the vein seal off around the wire? I hope someone knows the answer. I’m embarrassed to ask the doctor on Wednesday. 

5 Comments

it's not a problem

by Tracey_E - 2018-05-20 17:46:10

I don't think they do anything special. It's not much different than putting in an iv. The leads are very thin. 

Good question

by Gotrhythm - 2018-05-20 18:58:03

All I know is that getting the lead to stay in the vein withou excessive bleeding doesn't seem to be a problem. Why it isn't a a problem I have no idea.  I never thought to ask.  However, you question does seem reasonable to me. 

Any doctor who would think less of you for asking is a doctor you don't need.

Never be afraid to ask the doc

by LondonAndy - 2018-05-20 19:12:19

I agree with Gotrhythm - if something is worrying you, ask.  Having said that, pacemakers are one of the most routine operations: here in the UK they do over 40,000 a year - ie over 100 a day.  So risks are low, and they will know what they are doing.

I asked

by AgentX86 - 2018-05-20 20:09:32

...and no one understood my question so I never got an answer.  It must be so obvious that no one would ever ask such a stupid question.  ;-)  I had other, more pressing, quesitons to get through, so let is slide.

It's very.....

by donr - 2018-05-21 09:18:22


...simple.  just like an IV catheter - but a bit modified.  A small plastic gizmo surrounds the vein, which is fairly large where the leads enter it.  The leads are attached to the plastic gizmo w/ sutures & it is in turn attached t the vein w/ sutures.  The body will take care of the seal between the leads & the vein by  creating scar tissue.    It is NOT like we do with rubber hoses to join them by sticking a barbed connecter in both ends then sticking a compression clamp over the two hoses to seal them to the barbed connector - If you did that, the vein would "Die" where you clamped it.  There is always slack lead on either side of the entry point, so the combination of the slack & the plastic thingy keeps the stress on the actual insertion point to a minimum.

If you Google the question, I'm sure you can see a better, more detailed discussion, complete w/ drawings/photos.

Donr

You know you're wired when...

You invested in the Energizer battery company.

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It is just over 10 years since a dual lead device was implanted for complete heart block. It has worked perfectly and I have traveled well near two million miles internationally since then.