UNLABELLED 83 pacemaker (PM)/14 implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) autopsied patients, predominantly males, deceased 4.0±3.0/2.8±2.5 years after implantation in hospital. Coronary artery disease was most frequent. Its consequences were more severe in ICD patients. Sclerotic and rheumatic heart changes were present in older PM patients group only. The immediate cause of death was mostl...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Our aim is to describe the analysis of the pacemaker implants and replacements reported to the Spanish Pacemaker Registry in 2010, with special reference to the selection of pacing modes. METHODS Data collection was based on the information provided by the European Pacemaker Patient Identification Card, which was processed using a specially designed computer applic...

The twiddler syndrome is an uncommon cause of pacemaker malfunction, in which twisting or rotating of the device in its pocket results in lead retraction or coiling and subsequent malfunction of an implanted devices such as a pacemaker, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).  This report describes a rare case of twiddler syndrome after implant...

Superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome is an unusual complication of pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation. It is believed to be due to SVC thrombosis with or without stenosis induced by endothelial disruption from repeated mechanical trauma by the leads. A 58-year-old man presented with gradual swelling of his face, neck, and upper extremities of 10 days duration. A pace...

A 47-year-old woman with dilated cardiomyopathy underwent a single-chamber implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation for sustained ventricular tachycardia 10 years previously. Because bradycardia became clinically evident with beta-blocker therapy for heart failure, we attempted an upgrade from a single-chamber to dual-chamber ICD for physiological pacing. Venography revealed co...

As implantable pacemakers last a variable time, it is desirable to be able to foretell when each individual pacemaker is nearing the end of its life. A test which detects a number of different impending electronic failures including battery depletion is described. The test requires only standard laboratory equipment and has been used for four years as a three-monthly procedure in an out-patient...

We studied the pacemaker lead that had been removed from a patient who suffered three sequential episodes of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. This organism was recovered from the surface of the lead. Scanning electron microscopy showed differential colonization of the pacemaker lead. The metal tip, the inner surface and the internal wires were covered with a heavy biofilm of bacteria. The oute...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Myotonic dystrophy type 1 is characterized by muscle damage and systemic manifestations, including cardiac involvement. Our aim was to document the frequency and severity of cardiac involvement (left ventricular dysfunction and arrhythmia or conduction disorders), the need for a pacemaker, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or electrophysiological study, and the...

A young woman with congenital heart disease including dextrocardia presented to us following an out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation (VF) arrest. She had a dual-chamber pacemaker inserted already for bradycardia. Therewere concerns over the risk of baffle occlusion due to multiple transvenous wires. She received an entirely right-sided subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator wit...

The infection of cardiac implantable electronic device is a serious and potentially lethal complication. Accurate preoperative evaluation of location of vegetation, cardiac valve pathology is of paramount important. We reported a case of 71-year-old male patient who suffered from pacemaker endocarditis was given suitable surgical treatment under the guidance of real-time three-dimensional trans...