An unusual cause of pacemaker current leakage causing muscle stimulation.
Stimulation of skeletal muscle is a fairly common complication of permanent cardiac pacing. The usual cause is direct apposition of the anode of a unipolar pacemaker with muscle surrounding the pocket. Other causes include electrode insulation defects and electrode displacement. In this report we describe an unusual cause of muscle stimulation related to direct current leakage from the pacemaker.
D000368:Aged; D004868:Equipment Failure; D006327:Heart Block / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D013035:Spasm / Q000209:etiology*