Boston Scientific outlined the problem in a “Dear Doctor” letter in December 2017, warning about reports of a sensor glitch with some of its pacemakers and cardiac resynchronization systems.

The problem can occur with any of the company’s heart-pacing leads, but it is more likely to occur with pacemakers and other devices with cardiovascular leads in the right atrium or right ventricle of the heart.

In the worst case scenario, a defective sensor may slow down the patient’s heartbeat, leading to patients fainting or “syncope with associated injury in some pacemaker-dependent patients.”

Boston Scientific said it is working on a software update to detect and resolve the sensor problem. The company expects to submit the fix for regulatory approval in March and to release it in October, if approved.

Until then, the Minute Ventilation (MV) sensor should be turned off for pacemaker-dependent patients, or patients for whom the risks outweigh the benefits. The company also recommended enrolling pacemaker patients in its Latitude NXT remote monitoring program.

Source: Sensor glitch prompts Boston Scientific warning on pacemakers

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2 Comments

  1. Antonio Gomez May 21, 2019 at 9:42 pm

    I ware a Boston Scientific pacemaker (without defibrillator). Just today my doctor found out that the pacemaker, for some reason was not accelerating my heartbeats at all anytime I walked or entered into any kind of exertion, The heart rate remained the same all of the time. She believes that this was the reason why I would totally run out of breath even just by walking from bedroom to the bathroom. She did a little adjustment and got it to start accelerating as I walked, and she´s going to see me in three weeks to see how I feel. Also, she said she did not understand how the pacemaker was not set to work properly to start with fro the beginning. Can it be that the pacemaker is defective? I have gone through a lot of suffering because of this problem. Do you have any insight about this? Thank you for your opinion.

  2. My dad had the same problem and went to the doctor many times. Last July, he was changing a light bulb on a step stool, fell (fainted) and had a traumatic brain injury, leading to his death. Our family is still devastated. 2 months later his pacemaker was recalled….
    I hope you got a new one.

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