ICD lead fracture/symptoms?

Hello ICD friends, is there anyone out there who's experienced a lead fracture from his/her ICD before? Either ventricular or atrial lead fracture. Because mine is under recall and am PM dependent (due to no escape rhythm) I'm quite concerned lately and getting rather depressed and morose. If you have had a fracture, what were your symptoms and how soon did you find out before something was done for you? Was it an emergency when your symptoms were felt, and did you get enough time to get help? I travel a lot for business etc.so I'm really scared. My EP dr was contemplating replacement cos I'm PM/ICD dependent so he's monitoring me very closely like every 6 wks. He's also rather worried as I've had a replacement of device and lead extraction twice. Once in '04 to switch from PM to ICD due to recurrent VT and another in Sept ' 06 due to microperforation of cardiac wall. The new lead replaced is the one now on recall by medtronic.I'm depressed intermittently and need to know how one feels when symptoms of lead fracture strikes. I understand that we can get inappropriate shocks from our ICD or when we need the shocks it may not work for us! (that means I'm a goner). I'm quite upset too as my dr's earlier plans to do an ablation to eliminate another uncommon arrhythmia that's been troubling me even now, is put on hold cos of this recall. He said we'd surely get into trouble if he does it now. So I've to live with those episodes for now. I've had 3 ablations so far. I would appreciate some information in this regard if anyone can help. Many thanks.

Bunnykin

5 Comments

Hi Bunnykin,

by Gellia2 - 2008-01-12 01:01:21

I'm not sure it's the same for an ICD as it is for just a regular pacemaker, but I broke my ventricular wire in 2001.
I am dependent on my pacermaker but must have had an ectopic beat that kept me going until I got help. I went right from doing a phone monitoring, to the hospital, to having my wire repaired (the break was very close to the generator itself - thankfully!) in one day.
My symptoms were the same as what lead me to get a pacer in the first place. Third degree block with an underlying heartbeat of about 30 with lengthy (up to 30 seconds) asystolic periods. I got very dizzy and nauseous and finally blacked out.
If you get a fracture in your ventricle wire you would need immediate care. A fracture in the atrial wire, to my understanding, would put all the pacemaker energy focused on the ventricle wire.
Hope this helps. I know it's easy for me to say "Don't worry", but just because your wires "may" break, doesn't mean they will. I have been told that my wires may break at any time again as they are old (26 years). My EP has an if it "ain't broke - don't fix it" attitude because of their age and the number of wires I have (three) in there making removal more difficult. Yes, I worry I may break it again, but I may just NOT break it, too. Try to focus on "It WON'T break" and having NO FEAR! Flinging good vibes your way to help with your depression! (((((((()))))))
Gellia

leads

by thomast - 2008-01-12 03:01:20

I also have one of the recalled leads in my 3 wire unit that was implanted in 05. I like think about as Medtronic has only had a failure rate of 2.3 % with the leads, that means 97.7% of them are working fine. those are pretty good odds.

just had a lead extraction

by mgweaver - 2008-01-12 05:01:07

Hello! I actually just a lead extraction and replacement on Dec. 18th. I too had one of the recalled leads. My cardiologist did some reprogramming on my ICD and set the alarm. As we have all been told only about 1 in 1,000 would experience any problems. Well my alarm went off so I had some tests done. They were not able to figure out what was causing the alarm but apparently my lead was ready to snap any day. I have Long QT Syndrome and am growing more pacer dependent unfortunately. I had a very hard time coping until the surgery. I was very stressed and constantly waited for the alarm to sound. When it did I was suprised I didn't get shocked from my heart rate going up! :) Oh yeah, and I am only 26. My doctor had told me that I could opt to have the surgery done if I was stressing out enough about it. I had planned on it but then my husband and I had a house fire in the beginning of December. Try not to stress about it too much. I know that is easier said than done though. Best of luck to you!

Gratitude to all of you.

by bunnykin - 2008-01-13 06:01:13

Thank you so much for your comments and also valuable consolations if I may put it that way. It's my 56 birthday today!! Praise God for yet another precious birthday :) I shall treasure it and will promise my husband and daughter that I'd live it up despite all the issues abovementioned. Indeed it's very unsettling this lead problem esp. when I've been thru quite a bit almost yearly since implant in 2002, from ablations to devices that control my life. This site is a wonderful thing that ever happened to me since I stumbled onto it few weeks back. I'm not as fortunate as you people out there who're mostly from US or Canada as I'm from Singapore where poplulation of ICD/PM patients cannot be compared to yours. So thanks a million for your kind comments, conerns and information. They really come in handy and will help me a lot. Oh I'm also borderline long QT and have lost a sibling due to sudden cardiac death. That's one of the reasons my dr needs to monitor so closely. Thanks a lot and have a good weekend. Will welcome more info or comments if you think can assist in any manner in future. Warm regards.

Bunnykin

bad pm too

by huskersnb2 - 2008-01-15 09:01:28

hi i also have a bad pm 6469 my wire broke on oct 11 07 i was getting out of the shower and mine went off 8 times with in one minute than the next morning i went to see a heart doctor were i live he was a doctor from my hospital and it went off 3 more times he put a magnet on mine and he told me then i had a broken wire
after being transfered to lincoln nebraska to the heart hospital and all test were done it was determined my wire was broken now my pm is shut off been off for 3 months now they say i dont need it now so other than alot of pain from the shocks and now all the worring about the issue and watching my wife go through the or deal with me and alot of hospital bills i thought the device was suppose to save my life not scare the livin **** out of me and now i dont know if i want in on or not but that is my problem not yours so good luck and get a lawyer like i did becuase it isnt right

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