A broken lead to an open heart: implantable cardioverter defibrillator vegetations with lead fracture

Implantable cardiac devices are widely used devices that serve several purposes. Complications from devices are not uncommon and include localized or systemic infections, device-related endocarditis, and device malfunction leading to serious outcomes, including death. Another possible complication t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: George Horani, MD, Kevin Hosein, MD, Rahul Kumar, MD, Fayez Shamoon, MD
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2021-11-01
Series:Radiology Case Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1930043321005306
Description
Summary:Implantable cardiac devices are widely used devices that serve several purposes. Complications from devices are not uncommon and include localized or systemic infections, device-related endocarditis, and device malfunction leading to serious outcomes, including death. Another possible complication that has been reported in the literature is thrombus formation on the device leads. We present a rare case of large thrombi forming on the leads of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator leading to lead fracture and device malfunction. After the device alerted for malfunction, the patient underwent a transesophageal echocardiogram which demonstrated masses on the right atrium and ventricle. He subsequently had a right atrial exploration and lead extraction which revealed large thrombi on the leads which histologically were identified as sterile vegetations.
ISSN:1930-0433