Lead Extraction Recovery

To anyone who has had leads extracted. Can you tell me your recovery time and share your experience with me? I posted awhile back asking exactly what a lead extraction is and thanks to those that replied! Now really looking for how long it took to get back to work and feeling normal again.
I will be having 4 leads removed from my upper chamber within the next month. Does it depend on how many are being taken out and how they are removed?

Thanks in advance-
Tracie

4 Comments

It depends ...

by johnc_19 - 2008-04-28 04:04:13

I assume this is not requiring full-access open heart surgery, so hopefully you will have an uncomplicated recovery and in that case you probably are looking at about two weeks to start feeling better and a month or so to get back to full swing.

There could be emboli or other complications that prolong your recovery. These sort of events are one of the reasons that lead removal has generally been a last resort and a slowly-developing technique.

The only suggestion I have is to use a dedicated surgeon who has performed at least 300 of these procedures.

Best wishes.

Lead removal

by janetinak - 2008-04-29 03:04:44

Hi,

I had a single lead taken out & replaced after 3 years with my 1st PM when my 2nd PM put in. It went well & I experienced no difference from my fast recovery with the 1st PM placement. As Frank says above if it is easy then no problem.Only thing that was different the 2nd time my EP who is usally not very chatty kept me talking (not a problem with me as I am chatty) & as there was a little pressure (done under local) the nurse asked if I could have more meds ( I like a lot-hah) EP said no, not a problem, but now I think about it EP probably was looking for complications that I could relate to him as to how I felt. There was a momentary pain/ache, didn't last long & EP said the lead got "kind of hung up"-my words-coming out.

Hope this helps, Janet

THANKS ALL

by Pacing13 - 2008-04-29 11:04:19

Thanks to johnc_19, ElectricFrank, and Janet- I appreciate you taking time to reply! Yes, I am being sent to a doctor that has done this before. I don't know the exact number of times (I will be asking...) but my own cardiologist does not do lead extractions. He refers all patients to this doctor. I will be meeting with him in the next couple weeks to go over the procedure as well as his background.

Thanks for the heads up-
Tracie

It depends..more

by ElectricFrank - 2008-04-29 12:04:29

I agree that it should be done by a surgeon who has plenty of experience at it. The number of leads isn't as important as how difficult each one is to get out. This can be anything from simple to very difficult. The main issue is how scared into the vein or heart wall they are. This is where skill is very important. You don't want some doc who has no idea how hard to pull on them
You might also discuss the possibility of leaving a lead in place if it doesn't come loose easily.

If they come out easily, recovery could be very short. If it requires more extensive surgery it would make it longer.

good luck,

frank

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