WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT THE MEDTRONIC IMPLANTABLE DEFIBRILLATOR PROBLEM AND WHAT IS AN IMPLANTABLE DEFIBRILLATOR

It sounds like a cliche but things that were hardly dreamed of in the not so distant past have come to exist at the intersection of technology with medicine. I doubt if any doctor in the 1950's ever dreamed of a miraculous device such as the implantable defibrillator. When it senses a dangerous electrical rhythm in the heart the defibrillator delivers a life saving jolt of electricity.

Video from the FDA About Sprint Fidelis Recall Click the Arrow to Start

"Two months after Medtronic warned doctors and nearly a quarter-million patients that a wire, or lead, connecting their electronic defibrillators to their hearts might break, a 48-year-old patient had the lead and defibrillator removed and replaced. He described his fears and agreed to let a reporter observe the procedure on the condition that his identity remained private."

Patients Wonder Whether to Replace a Wire That Might Fail

What is an Implantable Defibrillator (A)

What is an Implantable Defibrillator (B) Implantable defibrillators are helping many (Vice President Cheney has one). But like many things in life, problems can arise. Medtronic has announced "We have found that there is a small chance of fractures in particular locations on the Sprint Fidelis lead".What is the lead? "The wire connects the heart to a defibrillator, a device that shocks faltering hearts back into normal rhythm. The company is urging all of the estimated 235,000 patients with the Fidelis, to see their doctors to make sure it has not developed a fracture that can make the device to misread heart-rhythm data.

Important Patient Information Sprint Fidelis® Lead Performance

What is going on with the Medtronic implantable defibrillator and what do you need to know? Read

More on Medtronic's Sprint Fidelis Advisory at Dr. Wes blog. He is a cardiologist and electrophysiologist (a specialist in the electrical activity of the heart)