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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty
Published on: July 5, 2011
The hot can: ICD failure presenting as severe shoulder pain
J A Joglar1, R C Kowal, T Brown
1Department of Internal Medicine (Cardiology, Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology), University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Rm. CS7.102, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390-9047, USA. jajogl@parknet.pmh.org
Abstract:
We describe a patient whose presentation of ICD generator failure was excruciating shoulder pain lasting 3 hours. This painful episode prompted evaluation and subsequent generator replacement. Destructive analysis of the explanted device revealed a short circuit of three battery filter capacitors, which resulted in the battery "dumping" its full energy very rapidly, since the impedance across the battery terminal was < 1 ohm. The duration of the painful episode was equal to the estimated ICD battery life under this low impedance condition.
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