Surgical electrocautery and the runaway pacemaker syndrome.
A case of a unipolar surgical electrocautery-induced runaway pacemaker is described. The single chamber ventricular pacemaker began firing at 140 beats/min with intermittent capture and the abnormal rhythm persisted after cessation of the electrocautery. Emergent explanation of the pulse generator was required.
University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester 01655.
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Heller
D000368:Aged; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004564:Electrocoagulation; D004868:Equipment Failure; D005260:Female; D006083:Graft Occlusion, Vascular / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial; D012086:Reoperation