title: Complete pacemaker lead fracture potentially due to intra-cardiac mass.
abstract: Seven years after the implantation of a dual-chamber pacemaker, a 74-year-old woman was referred for syncope. Chest X-ray revealed that the ventricular lead was completely broken near the tricuspid valve. Fluoroscopy and transthoracic echocardiography found a calcified mass, moving with the proximal part of the ventricular lead. Anatomopathology of the atrial tumour remained unknown. Surgery was considered too invasive a technique to be performed in our patient, who was suffering from dementia.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Department, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Charles Nicolle de Rouen, 1, rue de germont, 76031 Rouen Cedex, France. benedicte.godin@chu-rouen.fr
authors.forename: Bénédicte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Godin
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Savoure
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Anselme
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D013504:Cardiovascular Surgical Procedures; D000075202:Contraindications; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications; D004452:Echocardiography; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004868:Equipment Failure; D005260:Female; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013575:Syncope / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*