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

• Published in: BMC cardiovascular disorders Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 344 - 5
• Main Authors: Liu, Junpeng, Wen, Li, Yao, Simin, Zheng, Peipei, Zhao, Shuang, Yang, Jiefu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 23.07.2020; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Aged, 80 and over; Angina pectoris; Arrhythmia; Atrioventricular Block - diagnosis; Atrioventricular Block - etiology; Atrioventricular Block - therapy; Atrioventricular block-induced torsade de pointes; Biomarkers; Blood pressure; Cardiac arrhythmia; Cardiology; Cardiovascular disease; Care and treatment; Case Report; Case reports; Case studies; Chest Pain - diagnosis; Chest Pain - etiology; Chest Pain - therapy; Complications and side effects; Development and progression; Device Removal; Dyspnea; Dyspnea - diagnosis; Dyspnea - etiology; Dyspnea - therapy; Ejection fraction; Electric Power Supplies - adverse effects; Electrocardiogram; Electrocardiography; Electrolytes; Equipment Failure; Fatal Outcome; Female; Heart attacks; Heart failure; Humans; Hypertension; Laboratories; Long QT syndrome; Male; Morbidity; Pacemaker battery depletion; Pacemaker syndrome; Pacemaker, Artificial - adverse effects; Pacemakers; Patients; Peptides; Questioning; Respiration; Task forces; Torsades de Pointes - diagnosis; Torsades de Pointes - etiology; Torsades de Pointes - therapy; Treatment Outcome; China; Pacemaker syndrome; Atrioventricular block-induced torsade de pointes; Pacemaker battery depletion; Electrocardiogram
• ISSN: 1471-2261; 1471-2261
• DOI: 10.1186/s12872-020-01622-x

The 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. We 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. Those cases emphasize that serious morbidity can arise from pacemaker battery depletion, even in the early stages. Therefore, early detection and diagnosis is especially important.