Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology
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Case Reports
Pneumopericardium and pneumothorax contralateral to venous access site after permanent pacemaker implantation.
A 77-year-old female underwent implantation of a left-sided dual chamber permanent pacemaker for symptomatic bradycardia with active fixation leads. Eight hours after the procedure, the patient complained of shortness of breath and was found to have a 30% right pneumothorax on chest X-ray. ⋯ The helix was abutting a bulla in the right lung, the likely cause for pneumothorax and pneumopericardium. The atrial lead was explanted without incident.