{"id":30993,"date":"2020-01-27T20:08:35","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T01:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=30993"},"modified":"2025-07-08T19:50:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T00:50:57","slug":"leadless-pacemaker-leaking-badhwar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2020\/01\/27\/leadless-pacemaker-leaking-badhwar\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology Update: Can a “Leadless” Pacemaker Fix a Leaking Heart Valve?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just received a fascinating question from Shae about leadless pacemakers and leaking heart valves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shae asked me, \u201cHi Adam – I previously had a mitral valve replacement and tricuspid valve repair. I currently have a 7-year old pacemaker that is causing my tricuspid valve to leak. My electrophysiologist doctor has been talking to me about “leadless” pacemakers. I don\u2019t know much about leadless pacers. The doctor says there is a 50\/50 chance that a leadless pacemaker will correct my leaking valve. Is that correct? I don\u2019t want to go through another valve replacement surgery as I am only 43 years old. Thanks, Shae\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"\"Leadless Pacemaker (Medtronic)<\/p>\n


\nTogether, we have learned that some patients do get pacemakers after heart valve surgery<\/a>.\u00a0 However, I was really curious to learn more about Shae’s questions about the pacemaker leads. That said, I reached out to Dr. Vinay Badhwar<\/a>, the Executive Chair of the West Virginia University Heart and Vascular Institute at WVU Medicine<\/a>.\u00a0 So you know, Doctor Badhwar is a long-time supporter of HeartValveSurgery.com who has helped many patients in our community including Rachel Haddon, Tricia Allen and Josephine Rizzo.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Dr. Vinay Badhwar (WVU Medicine)<\/p>\n

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Dr. Badhwar Says…<\/h2>\n

After I sent Shae’s question to Dr. Badhwar, I was excited to quickly receive the following response from Dr. Badhwar.
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Shae asks a great question.\u00a0 The answer is that it depends on how old the tricuspid repair and pacemaker interaction has been going on.\u00a0 If this interaction is relatively fresh… Then, yes this may be quite plausible for a leadless pacemaker to correct the leaking valve.\u00a0 However, if this interaction is more than a year or so old, then what tends to happen is that the ventricular pacemaker lead adheres to the tricuspid leaflets as it crosses the valve.\u00a0 That said, an extraction may not help (and may hurt) the tricuspid regurgitation. My best wishes to Shae!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 
\nTo help you learn more about leadless pacemakers, I just found this video which compares a traditional pacemaker to a leadless pacemaker.\u00a0 As you will see, the video does address potential complications of traditional pacemakers with normal heart valve function.
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