Unexpected pacemaker lead in an 84‐year‐old patient

Sams, Lauren ; Brunner, Stefan; Näbauer, Michael und Steffen, Julius (2021): Unexpected pacemaker lead in an 84‐year‐old patient. In: Echocardiography, Vol. 38, No. 7: pp. 1131-1132

Abstract

An elderly patient with a history of atrial fibrillation presented to our emergency room. Previous medical records from another hospital described a pacemaker lead in the echocardiography although the patient had no known history of a pacemaker implantation. Finally, by close examination, chest X-ray, and computed tomography, we found that a kyphoplasty of the spine had caused a so-called palacos embolism, which had repeatedly been mistaken for a pacemaker lead. Unusually, there were no further signs of kyphoplasty material in the pulmonary veins. As the patient was asymptomatic and the embolism caused only moderate tricuspid regurgitation, a conservative treatment was agreed on.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Medicine > Medical Center of the University of Munich > Medical Clinic and Outpatient Clinic I (Cardiology)
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 0742-2822
• Language: English