Graziano Fiorillo, Seyedali Ghazihosseini, Simone Agizza, Francesco Lanza, Simona Piccirillo, Giuseppe Gargiulo, Paola Gargiulo, Giovanni Battista Pinna, Emanuele Pilato, Carlo De Rosa, Carmine Morisco, Giovanni Esposito
{"title":"Management of iatrogenic atrial perforation caused by pacemaker electrodes: a case report.","authors":"Graziano Fiorillo, Seyedali Ghazihosseini, Simone Agizza, Francesco Lanza, Simona Piccirillo, Giuseppe Gargiulo, Paola Gargiulo, Giovanni Battista Pinna, Emanuele Pilato, Carlo De Rosa, Carmine Morisco, Giovanni Esposito","doi":"10.1186/s13256-024-04884-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The complications associated with cardiac device implants ranges between 5.3% and 14.3%. Cardiac perforation due to \"leads\" represent a very rare complication of cardiac device implantation, ranging between 0.3% and 0.7%. Clinically, they can manifest different, nonspecific symptoms; hence, the diagnosis may not be immediate.</p><p><strong>Case presentation: </strong>Our clinical case describes the successful treatment of cardiac tamponade occurring in a Caucasian 79-year-old man following a pacemaker implantation. Two days after the procedure, the patient reported an episode of nonspecific chest pain associated with syncope. The echocardiogram performed revealed a pericardial effusion in the apical area, along the right chambers, with a thickness of 7 mm, not hemodynamically significant. A chest computed tomography scan with contrast showed hemopericardium (maximum thickness of 11 mm), caused by an atrial perforation. A few hours later, the patient experienced hemodynamic instability. For this reason, an urgent sternotomy was performed with drainage of a significant hemopericardial effusion, revealing a perforation of the upper free wall of the right atrium with pericardial injury caused by the retractable screw lead. The perforation site was sutured and the sternal wound was closed. The patient was discharged after 4 days without further complications. At the control visit, scheduled 30 days after the hospital discharge, the patient was in good conditions.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Although the atrial perforations from leads are very rare complications of pacemaker implantation procedures, they are potentially lethal. In conclusion, this clinical case highlights the need, before hospital discharge, of an accurate screening for evaluation the pericardial effusion in patients that undergo to the cardiac implantable electronic devices.</p>","PeriodicalId":16236,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Medical Case Reports","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11542433/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Medical Case Reports","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13256-024-04884-7","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: The complications associated with cardiac device implants ranges between 5.3% and 14.3%. Cardiac perforation due to "leads" represent a very rare complication of cardiac device implantation, ranging between 0.3% and 0.7%. Clinically, they can manifest different, nonspecific symptoms; hence, the diagnosis may not be immediate.
Case presentation: Our clinical case describes the successful treatment of cardiac tamponade occurring in a Caucasian 79-year-old man following a pacemaker implantation. Two days after the procedure, the patient reported an episode of nonspecific chest pain associated with syncope. The echocardiogram performed revealed a pericardial effusion in the apical area, along the right chambers, with a thickness of 7 mm, not hemodynamically significant. A chest computed tomography scan with contrast showed hemopericardium (maximum thickness of 11 mm), caused by an atrial perforation. A few hours later, the patient experienced hemodynamic instability. For this reason, an urgent sternotomy was performed with drainage of a significant hemopericardial effusion, revealing a perforation of the upper free wall of the right atrium with pericardial injury caused by the retractable screw lead. The perforation site was sutured and the sternal wound was closed. The patient was discharged after 4 days without further complications. At the control visit, scheduled 30 days after the hospital discharge, the patient was in good conditions.
Conclusions: Although the atrial perforations from leads are very rare complications of pacemaker implantation procedures, they are potentially lethal. In conclusion, this clinical case highlights the need, before hospital discharge, of an accurate screening for evaluation the pericardial effusion in patients that undergo to the cardiac implantable electronic devices.
期刊介绍:
JMCR is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that will consider any original case report that expands the field of general medical knowledge. Reports should show one of the following: 1. Unreported or unusual side effects or adverse interactions involving medications 2. Unexpected or unusual presentations of a disease 3. New associations or variations in disease processes 4. Presentations, diagnoses and/or management of new and emerging diseases 5. An unexpected association between diseases or symptoms 6. An unexpected event in the course of observing or treating a patient 7. Findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect