Repositioning of a dislodged and fibrosed ventricular lead.

UNLABELLED: This is a case of a 61 year old African American female with history of end stage renal disease on hemodialysis. She had a dual chamber permanent pacemaker implanted in 2003 for symptomatic bradycardia. Over the past several months the patient had problems with access for dialysis. The right arm AV fistula was occluded. The patient had multiple temporary central catheter placed for dialysis over the past 3 months. The patient was admitted for superior vena-cava syndrome. CT scan of the thorax and neck showed occluded right and left subclavian system. An incidental finding was the right ventricular (RV) lead been dislodged and the tip being in the inferior vena cava. Surgical and non-surgical options were discussed with the patient and she chose to go the less invasive route. The patient underwent a RV lead revision. Using different stylets the RV lead was repositioned in the RV with good pacing and sensing characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS: Successful repositioning of an old dislodged RV pacing lead using stylets and eliminating the need for invasive procedure like lead extraction.