Was your problem ever resolved. My husband had a pacing wire come out during a dermatologist appointment after heart surgery 10 years ago. No tugging it just came out with tweezers when the dermatologist was removing a cyst that we thought could be skin cancer. Went to surgeon and was told we had nothing to worry about. Husbsnd now has a second wire trying to come out the same hole. Surgeon who did heart operation 10 years ago said not to worry about it because it has retracted. However it has to be below the surface because hole will not heal. Just had a CT scan today, ordered by another heart surgeon, to see if he can remove. Worried about complications because it is still attached to heart and husband on blood thinners.
how long does it take for the wires to retract if they are left out post surgery?
I'm glad you are getting it sorted out. The surgeon will either decide to remove them by simply pulling, or a minimal invasive procedure. A nurse just pulled mine out two days after bypass surgery. It wasn't a gentle pull, it was a sharp tug and I remember trying not to have images of my heart having damage. I think different surgeons have different ideas about how secure to make them. Mine obviously wanted the quick and easy release method. His surgeon will definitely know best.
Thank you ed34. He spoke to the nurse at his cardiovascular surgeons office a few days ago & they wanted to see him right away, unfortunately he is out of the area and couldn't. Now the tip of the wires are sticking through the skin. He went to an ER & they said that the wires need to be removed, but the ER doctor doesn't do that so they are getting him a referral to a heart surgeon.
it sounds like the metal is irritating him and the wires need to be removed.
He didn't have a internal pacemaker. This was temporary pacing wires placed on the heart at the time of his open heart surgery. They were used briefly postop when his heart rate was slow. When he was ready to go home, they clipped them at the skin level and let the remaining, stainless steel wires retract into the skin. I know that removing the wires can be risky due to irritation to the heart muscle itself or bleeding. He is going to call his open heart surgeon tomorrow.
They told him that the pain would go away. Which it hasn't. I spoke with him tonight and he said that the pain was driving him crazy. That it was at the site where the pacing wire was cut at the skin level and the pain is going through to his back.
Thanks for the info Ed.
Jesus
After bypass surgery the pacemaker wires are attached to the heart and the other end is hanging out of the chest. The pacemaker is temporarily attached externally if required. There is no internal PM and no pocket.
I am very confused with this post. To my knowledge, the closest point to skin level of wires of a pacemaker it is just in the union with the pacemaker itself, therefore the easy thing it is just to detach them and leave them inside the pacemaker pocket. Why to cut them?.
Now some of those wires are quite long and some surgeons roll them in circles to shorten them. At least theoretically, if there are a few circles and he is close to any electro magnetic field some current can be generated by induction producing a zap.
When in normal use there is not such a problem, because the end of the wires are attached to the device and not just left touching the skin.
Anyways as Ed said, doctors should give an answer to the problem.
Jesus
When your fiance mentioned the pain after they cut the wires, what did they say?
Some Doctors pull the wires out, which can result in tearing the heart muscle and cause bleeding, while others prefer to trim at skin level so the wires can retract. I wonder if the wires are pushing against a nerve or muscle.
I would ask a Doctors opinion on having them removed, or at least having an x-ray to see if they are causing problems.