title: Destructive device removal - sparks and deletion of therapy history from an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.
abstract: A 74-year-old female with a diagnosis of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and ventricular tachycardia died suddenly 9 years after an implantation of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). The destructive removal of an ICD generator and the leads by an uninformed coroner resulted in the loss of the fragile electrograms during the terminal episodes of VT/VF and caused severe charring on the surface of the ICD generator. In order to observe the conditions in which the shock deliveries occurred during the noise detection, we programmed the ICD to deliver the maximum shock energy via a programmer while keeping continuous contact between the device surface and shock lead. The maximum shock energy of 31 Joules produced significant sparks from the surface of the ICD. To avoid the loss of data from an ICD and injury to the patient, widespread notification and education through appropriate scientific societies about the functions of ICDs are highly recommended.
authors: Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kinki University School of Medicine, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka, Japan.
authors: Takashi
authors: T
authors: Kurita
authors: Shigeyuki
authors: S
authors: Ueda
authors: Hideo
authors: H
authors: Okamura
authors: Takashi
authors: T
authors: Noda
authors: Kazuhiro
authors: K
authors: Satomi
authors: Kazuhiro
authors: K
authors: Suyama
authors: Wataru
authors: W
authors: Shimizu
authors: Naohiko
authors: N
authors: Aihara
authors: Shunichi
authors: S
authors: Miyazaki
authors: Shiro
authors: S
authors: Kamakura
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D020878:Device Removal / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans