Lead Increased OHMs

I had a device check today and the device technician said one of my leads had increased from 400 ohms to slightly over 1000 in the past year. She called and talked to the Medtronic Rep who told her to not worry unless it reached over 2000. It is the Lead to my lower chamber and it only paces .2% of the time. The Lead to my Upper Chamber paces around 8% of the time and must have been ok. She didn’t say anything about it. She acted like I shouldn’t be concerned, but I am. Has anyone had experience with this? Does this mean I’ll need a Lead replacement soon and if so, is it risky?

2 Comments

It might come to a lead replacement eventually

by crustyg - 2020-06-22 18:46:54

Sounds as though the Medtronic rep has given you the answer: not to worry just yet, but if that impedance carries on increasing the RV lead might become useless.

Whether it will need to be replaced depends on whether you need it - it's hardly doing anything now, but it might be needed at some stage in the future.  Your profile is pretty thin but from what you've provided above, you only need atrial pacing at the moment and not a lot of that.

*IF* you eventually need the RV lead replacing, then yes, there's a small risk, which is why you would only have it done by a specialist centre that does 200+ lead replacements each year.  Special equipment is needed and they have to be good at it - then it's a fairly straightforward process.  Not absolutely risk free, but safe enough.

HTH.

crusty covered it

by Tracey_E - 2020-06-23 09:31:48

Only thing I'd add is leads wear out, that's perfectly normal and that's why they said don't worry. This is the first sign of that happening. One of mine jumped in impedence but we didn't deal with it for another 5 years, just kept an eye on it. I had room in the vein so instead of extracting, they capped off the old one and added the new one. It was done when the battery was replaced so just one surgery. Easy. 

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