Lead Recall

• by bunnykin
• 2008-01-04 12:01:30
• General Posting
• 1540 views
• 1 comments

With the recent medtronic lead recall, it's a real nightmare. I wonder how many of you out there feel this way; firstly if you're pacemaker dependent(which I am) and at the same time need the ICD due to recurrent VT it's quite harrowing. You wonder when the recalled lead will fracture and fail you. It's so worrying. Secondly having had a lead replacement just last year due to the lead (ventricular) perforating the heart resulting in pericarditis, I'm even more paranoid. This newly replaced lead is now recalled, how should one accept this kind of fate?
Since my device has been set to alert me with the beeping alarm I've been vigilantly watching out, or listening for that fateful tone at the time set. It's rather awful to have to live life in suspense this way especially having had two lead extractions in the past I'm going nuts with fear. A cardiologist friend advised that we must be faithfully monitoring ourselves too cos 2.3% of failure rate expected in 30 month period of implantation of this lead is translated into 4000-5000 people who'll experience fractures in future in terms of numbers! And with those figures, he said it's not difficult for us to be one of them though in %age sounds very little. Come to think of it, he's right!
My friends who are affected, please take care and don't ignore your nitty gritty symptoms and take no chances. All the best for the new year and let's hope our device/lead won't fail us when we need it. God bless.