Bleeding Death from Pacemaker surgery

[ALCapshaw2]

wxman reported the Death of a friend (with Tissue Valve) because the Doctor (Cardio? or Surgeon?) could NOT control bleeding during a procedure to implant a Pacemaker.

I've never heard of such an unfortunate outcome from a Pacemaker Implant Procedure. Has anyone else?

What could have gone wrong?

'AL Capshaw'

 

[tcopel]

I have worked in a large medical facility and havent heard of that unfortunate problem. On the consent form of any procedure, it is routinely stated that bleeding is a potential problem, but to die from a uncontrollable hemorrage from a pacemaker implant would, I think, be very unusual. Perhaps there was a puncture of a large blood vessel (aorta, inferior vena cava?) so there was internal chest hemorrage, or perhaps the INR wasnt checked prior to the procedure (but the INR would have to be life threatning high). I can only guess what happened, but it seems very odd.

 

[dtread]

The first thought is probably a bleed out from the small incision that is made to create a "pocket" for insertion of the pacemaker. But it was probably due to internal bleed out from one of the pacemaker leads punching a hole somewhere in the vein it is inserted in. Another possibility is if they pulled out an old lead it could have started an internal bleed where the old lead was attached. If you google "pacemaker death" you get several hits. Thankfully these type incidents seem to be pretty rare. There is also a similar risk of puncture with cardiac catheterization. So whether the person has a biological valve is of little or no relevance here, although if the person is anticoagulated it could certainly be a contributing factor to the bleed out.

 

[Duff Man]

+1 guessing a great vessel perforation.

 

[zipper2]

Would you not have to be off the coumadin to do this procedure?



Too if the inr is high as mine was when they did a removal
of my cyst,they said thats all they could do for me as I
was starting too bleed profusely they had to close me up.
Then started me back on coumadin and days later due to hospital
complications of administering wrong amount of coumadin,i then
began to bleed internally and organs shut down for me.
Oh too sad to hear about these things that can happen.
I pray the family get some answers to their questions.
As for me i barely left out alive,I was on deaths entrance.

zipper2 (DEB)

 

[Ross]

I'm guessing someone made a major mistake.

 

[Bonzo Dog]

Would you not have to be off the coumadin to do this procedure?

Yes, for a few days prior to implant. Heparin may be substituted for warfarin as it has a much shorter half life and stopping it a day before will cause a more sudden drop in INR than if the patient was on warfarin. Blood will still be thinner than normal though.

Al Capshaw, yesterday I PM'd you on this topic, as your PM box was full it bounced back. I then E-mailed the same. Did you get it?

 

[kfay]

wxman posted that the friend had a tissue valve and therefore was NOT on coumadin so that obviously wasn't a contributing factor.

Kim

 

[wxman]

It is correct that she had a tissue valve and was not on coumadin. Don't really know the details...an autopsy has been performed. So...I may hear more on the details of her death later. I felt now was not the time to ask too many questions. Her funeral is on Monday.

She had a history perforation of tissue (vessels, esophagus) during some previous procedures and surgeries. She also had bleeding issues on a few occasions. So...they are considering some kind of underlying disease or abnormality of the tissue that may have lead to her problems.