3rd wire to be inserted

Good luck

by Gemita - 2021-03-11 14:18:13

Hello Jude,

I am a two wire pacemaker patient but I know many members here have that third lead (CRT device) to try to help improve their symptoms of heart failure and to allow them to live a better quality of life.  Some can have a fairly quick response to CRT, for others it may take a little longer to see any improvement but I am sure your doctors feel you will benefit from that third wire.  Certainly it will help your ventricles to work together better and hopefully improve your blood flow to the rest of your body.

Yes, an upgrade from two leads to three leads is very commonly performed and when carried out by an experienced EP I am sure you will be in very safe hands.  Under the Cleveland Clinic where the procedure is carried out frequently, they will have a great deal of experience, so try not to worry.

I just wanted to say good luck.  You are still young at 79 and have much to look forward to. 

Options

by Terry - 2021-03-11 21:36:58

Please ask your doctor at Cleveland Clinic about restoring synchrony with His bundle pacing (search that on your favorite browser). They do know how to restore ventricular pump action with physiological ventricular function, and ask about reversing heart failure thereby. There is a list of cases at <His-Bundle Pacing Papers – His-Pacing.org (his-pacing.org)> scroll down to "can my heart healed itself" if given healthy ventricular contraction. Blessings,

Terry

I have four.

by dwelch - 2021-03-17 23:41:49

Grin.  well one broke 20 somethiing years ago...I switched from a two lead to a three lead.  They really dont/shouldnt add a lead to your existing device you should be getting a three lead device go to along with the new lead.

In my case it was from decades of pacing and my EF had hit a threshold.  it started to come back up after the biventrical three lead pacer.  YMMV.

But yes as pointed out above some of us have switched from two to three for various reasons, I happened to have room for four so the broken one is still in there, no need to remove it just yet.

One fun thing if you think it is fun is I assume three lead means biventrical meaning the new lead goes into the left ventrical.  which is cozy with the body cavity.  so you might get belly bumps as my nurse called them.  In my case if I stand just right and breath in just right, when the pacer fires the heart that signal also fires tummy muscles on that side, only for like one beat though, if i could make it happen on demand for a sustained period that would be a nice party trick.   All fun aside if you start feeling this no worries, they can do some adjustments, just call them esp if it is all the time and/or annoying.

good luck, no worries.  if they think you need a new device and lead, then you do.  This is not uncommon and there are three and four lead devices out there now and are at the common level at this point (for folks with specific conditions).  Some folks dont have room for three leads on one side, and there are options around that, and some dont have room for four, again options to deal with that.