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A rare case of "runaway" pacemaker in a modern CPU-controlled pacemaker
Amgad N Makaryus1, Carol Patrick, Paul Maccaro
1North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Division of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Huntington Hospital, 170 Park Avenue, Huntington, NY 11743, USA.
Abstract:
"Runaway" pacemaker is a rare entity that occurs when a malfunctioning artificial cardiac pacemaker abruptly accelerates its pacing rate above the set upper rate limit. This can result in life-threatening dysrhythmia. Runaway pacemaker used to occur more frequently in older model pacemakers, but now with newer pacemaker generators, runaway pacemaker is a rare entity. We report the case of a runaway pacemaker in a modern CPU-controlled pacemaker in a 79-year-old man presenting with lightheadedness and review the literature regarding this rare entity.
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