Failing pacemaker wire

My pacemaker is a St Judes dual chamber that was put in 5 and 1/2 years ago. About 18 months ago during a routine check I was told that there is a breach in the insulation in the pacerwire in my right ventricle causing it to be impaired. Since that time I have continued to have increasing impairment in the wire and it is being watched closely. The hope, since I pace minimally in my ventricle and most of the time I am approx 90% paced in my atrium, is that they can wait and change my wire when my battery requires changing which is estimated to be approx. 18 months to 2 years from now.
I have had discussions with my EP about removing the wire vs. putting a second wire in my rt. ventricle along side the failing wire and use that to pace my ventricle. I have alot of anxiety about removing a wire due to the serious complications that can arise during the removal process.
Has anyone had a St Jude wire removed and has anyone had one that became faulty after only 4 years? I would like to hear from you.about your experience- DILY

1 Comments

St Judes ICD

by papaknight - 2008-06-14 01:06:06

Go to http://www.fda.gov/search.html and in the search box type in 687423. This is a report written by an "honest" St Judes tech. i would say you definetly have cause for concern. If you would like to have our st judes nightmare send me an email and I will send it to you. It may help you to understand why you must get a copy of your report every time the unit is tested and question all changes. Don't mean to scare you but if I can help keep one person from going through what we have it will be worth it. Best of luck to you and yours
Kirby Knight
kirbyknight@hotmail.com

You know you're wired when...

You prefer rechargeable batteries.

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Try to concentrate on how you’re able to be active again and feel normal, rather than on having a machine stuck in your body.