Lead fracture

I thought I'd share something that happened a while back. Before covid, I was walking to lunch with co-workers and started to get dizzy and thought that I was gonna pass out. I'd been pacing for over 15 years and knew something was wrong.  "Was it plumbing or electrical?" I thought.  It took a while to diagnose, but there were other moments where I felt dizzy for a few seconds... I could be sitting in a meeting, at my desk, etc... so I started to keep a log on my phone in case they could look for abnormalities at my next interrogations. it turns out that I had a fractured lead.  So I was scheduled for my second extraction (the first being for a partially pulled lead about 12 years earlier) and replacement.  The ironic thing was that the fractured lead was the "new" one. So I'm on my 4th PM, but still have one of my original leads from 2004. Crazy, huh?  

1 Comments

I *imagine* that vent leads fracture more often than atrial leads...

by crustyg - 2021-07-05 13:54:39

...but that's based purely on thinking about the movement of the heart's chambers during contraction and has no evidence behind it (I'm being lazy and haven't researched this => no evidence).

There are quite a few contributors here who've had leads fail (as opposed to becoming dislodged, or suffering damage during other procedures etc.). 

Show of hands: vent leads fracturing more commonly than atrial leads?

You know you're wired when...

You have a $50,000 chest.

Member Quotes

The experience of having a couple of lengths of wire fed into your heart muscle and an electronic 'box' tucked under the skin is not an insignificant event, but you will survive.