Adverse clinical events caused by pacemaker battery depletion: two case reports

Junpeng Liu,Jiefu Yang,Shuang Zhao,Peipei Zheng,Li Wen,Simin Yao

doi:10.1186/s12872-020-01622-x

Abstract

BackgroundThe clinical symptoms and adverse events caused by pacemaker battery depletion are not uncommon, but it is easy to miss or misdiagnose them clinically. To raise the level of awareness towards this clinical situation, we report two cases.Case presentationWe described two cases of pacemaker battery depletion. Case 1 was an 83-year-old male manifesting chest pain and dyspnea. Automatic reprogramming after pacemaker battery depletion resulted in pacemaker syndrome. While case 2 was an 80-year-old female with complete atrioventricular heart block and torsade de pointes, due to complete depletion of pacemaker battery. In addition, we introduce a method that can easily identify the depletion of the pacemaker battery, which has clinical promotion value of a certain degree.ConclusionsThose cases emphasize that serious morbidity can arise from pacemaker battery depletion, even in the early stages. Therefore, early detection and diagnosis is especially important.

Highlights

The clinical symptoms and adverse events caused by pacemaker battery depletion are not uncommon, but it is easy to miss or misdiagnose them clinically
Those cases emphasize that serious morbidity can arise from pacemaker battery depletion, even in the early stages
Learning points Chest pain, dyspnea accompanied by changes of pacing mode and rate in patient with pacemaker suggest the possibility of battery depletion of pacemaker

Summary

Conclusions

Those cases emphasize that serious morbidity can arise from pacemaker battery depletion, even in the early stages. Early detection and diagnosis is especially important. Learning points Chest pain, dyspnea accompanied by changes of pacing mode and rate in patient with pacemaker suggest the possibility of battery depletion of pacemaker. The symptoms resolution following pacemaker exchange support this theory. Torsade de pointes(TdP) tachycardia in patient with pacemaker suggests the possibility of pacemaker battery depletion, which causes bradycardia with QT interval prolongation

Findings

Background

Discussion and conclusions