Coimbatore : Surgically implanted heart devices play an important role in the treatment of heart disease. Pacemakers treat slow heart rhythms by increasing the heart rate
Coimbatore : Surgically implanted heart devices play an important role in the treatment of heart disease. Pacemakers treat slow heart rhythms by increasing the heart rate. As the range of applications widen, the number of patients with heart devices continues to increase. Occasionally, pacemaker and implanted lead or heart wire must be removed.
The removal of such systems is potentially a high-risk procedure. With the increasing number of implanted devices, removal is required more frequently. A pacemaker lead is a special wire that delivers energy from a pacemaker to the heart muscle.
A lead extraction is the removal of one or more leads from inside the heart. A pacemaker lead needs to be removed for one or more of the following reasons: Damage to the inside (called a fracture) or outside of the lead, and an infection at the site of the device or lead.
At Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH), a 50-year old female patient was admitted who had undergone pacemaker implantation for a condition called 'sick sinus syndrome' elsewhere, a few years ago. Due to infection at the site of the pacemaker battery, the battery was removed elsewhere.
Manual extraction of lead was attempted but failed. She was referred to KMCH for lead extraction. If any part of the pacemaker system becomes infected, it is usually impossible to cure the infection without completely removing all hardware from the body.
The lead extraction was performed at KMCH using a special device called the lead locking device, by Dr. Lawrence Jesuraj, Electrophysiologist and Interventional Cardiologist at KMCH. This is the first case of lead extraction using this device in Coimbatore and was done under local anesthesia and conscious sedation, with the heart surgeon kept on standby in case of any major complications.
Using this device, the lead was extracted safely without any complications. The procedure took approximately 45 minutes and the patient was shifted to the room the same day, and discharged home the next day.
"Lead extraction is a complex surgical procedure with some unavoidable risks. Each time the lead is separated from scar tissue; there is a small chance of tearing the surrounding blood vessel or perforating the heart, which can result in major bleeding in the chest or around the heart. In some cases, this requires blood transfusion or even immediate open heart surgery to save the patient's life.
At KMCH, the complete heart care team handles these kind of complex cases," stated Dr. M Lawrence Jesuraj, Electrophysiologist at KMCH.
The removal of such systems is potentially a high-risk procedure. With the increasing number of implanted devices, removal is required more frequently. A pacemaker lead is a special wire that delivers energy from a pacemaker to the heart muscle.
A lead extraction is the removal of one or more leads from inside the heart. A pacemaker lead needs to be removed for one or more of the following reasons: Damage to the inside (called a fracture) or outside of the lead, and an infection at the site of the device or lead.
At Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH), a 50-year old female patient was admitted who had undergone pacemaker implantation for a condition called 'sick sinus syndrome' elsewhere, a few years ago. Due to infection at the site of the pacemaker battery, the battery was removed elsewhere.
Manual extraction of lead was attempted but failed. She was referred to KMCH for lead extraction. If any part of the pacemaker system becomes infected, it is usually impossible to cure the infection without completely removing all hardware from the body.
The lead extraction was performed at KMCH using a special device called the lead locking device, by Dr. Lawrence Jesuraj, Electrophysiologist and Interventional Cardiologist at KMCH. This is the first case of lead extraction using this device in Coimbatore and was done under local anesthesia and conscious sedation, with the heart surgeon kept on standby in case of any major complications.
Using this device, the lead was extracted safely without any complications. The procedure took approximately 45 minutes and the patient was shifted to the room the same day, and discharged home the next day.
"Lead extraction is a complex surgical procedure with some unavoidable risks. Each time the lead is separated from scar tissue; there is a small chance of tearing the surrounding blood vessel or perforating the heart, which can result in major bleeding in the chest or around the heart. In some cases, this requires blood transfusion or even immediate open heart surgery to save the patient's life.
At KMCH, the complete heart care team handles these kind of complex cases," stated Dr. M Lawrence Jesuraj, Electrophysiologist at KMCH.