Pulmonary Thromboembolism in the Presence of an Endocardiac Pacing Catheter

Recurring Pulmonary Embolism after Migration of a Retained Transvenous Pacemaker Electrode

“…Anticoagulation with heparin and coumarine appears to be the therapy of choice for venous thrombosis as well as for pulmonary embolism due to a pace maker electrode (8, 10, 18,21,25). In our case as well, there was no evidence of any further embolism once this therapy had been started.…”

“…In our case the thrombus formation within the inferior vena cava was most likely secondary to wall trauma caused by the free-floating uncovered metal end. Although thrombi are frequently found along the course of a pacemaker electrode (1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, 20, 24, 25), the incidence of both fatal (3, 13, 14, 15, 18) and non-fatal (1, 3, 6, 17, 20, 24) embolism is very small and is more frequent in the presence of severe cardiac failure (18).…”

Superior vena cava stenosis at site of intersection of two pacing electrodes.

“…Several cases ofthrombosis around pacing electrodes have been reported (Lagergren et al, 1966;Youmans et al, 1967;Hager et al, 1968;Prozan et al, 1968;London et al, 1969;Reynolds et al, 1969;Robboy et al, 1969;Sidd et al, 1969;Griepp et al, 1970;Kaulbach and Krukonis, 1970;Wertheimer et al, 1973). To our knowledge only one case of superior vena cava syndrome in a pacemaker patient has been described (Wertheimer et al, 1973).…”

Pulmonary embolisation of retained transvenous pacemaker electrode.

“…The following case differs from those described previously in that the migrating electrode left the venous system and was embolized into a major pulmonary artery. While pulmonary emboli originating from thrombi surrounding a transvenous pacemaker electrode do occasionally occur (Prozan et al, 1968;Marx et al, 1972), the patient described in this paper represents, to our knowledge, the first case of pulmonary embolization of the electrode itself.…”