INADVERTENT FIXATION OF PACEMAKER LEADS T O THE TRICUSPID-VALVE - RARE COMPLICATION IN PACEMAKER THERAPY

In two patients undergoing pacemaker implantation, the tip of the pace maker lead was inadvertently attached to the tricuspid valve and could not be distached thereafter. To avoid an injury of the tricuspid valv e caused by rough extraction as described in the literature, the wrong ly attached pacemaker leads were left in place and neu leads were prop erly inserted. In both patients, a hemodynamically negligible tricuspi d regurgitation could be detected postoperatively by color flow Dopple r echocardiography.