Lead wrapped around heart

Hi there. I had my ICD fitted in January 2019 to replace my old pacemaker after it was discovered that I’d had changing symptoms. What a nightmare it has been.  I was admitted back into hospital in March 2019 after having a heart rate over 190 on a couple of occasions, without my new ICD registering this.  One of the things that worried me during this recent was the news that since the surgeon had trouble attaching the leads during my initial implantation, due to my strange heart anatomy, they had decided to “wrap the lead around” my heart instead.  This was quite startling to me, and I wonder if anyone else has heard of this procedure, as it has left me feeling unsure of the whole thing. 

Thanks to all

2 Comments

high heart rate

by islandgirl - 2019-03-10 18:12:07

My ICD shows a range of atrial tachycardia (Medtronic) rates.  If it's not a ventricular arrhythmia, mine isn't specific.  I'm occasionally paced out of ventricular arrhythmias (21 in 3 weeks, a couple of months ago), but with med additions it's much better.  Those arrhythmias will show the rate.....mine are usually around 270 and it shows how long it lasts and if the ICE treated the arrhythmia.

Strange heart anatomy

by DouglasRachac - 2019-03-27 22:39:29

You mentioned a strange heart anatomy.  I wonder If you have the same thing I do, which is called persistent left superior vena cava. It’s was explained to me that my heart anatomy is “flipped”, which makes it a little more challenging to implant a lead. So I could see how a doctor might explain that a lead is “wrapped around the heart”, but it’s not literally wrapped around the heart, it’s just entering the heart from a different vein/angle. 

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