Second opinion, my daughter

[alehisa]

My daughter was diagnosed with a variety of heart problem when she was two months old. She currently has a pacemaker which she only uses when her heart rate goes above 115 bpm. When she has surgery 7 years ago the surgeon lost a surgical needle in the center (av node) area of her heart. Could the needle be the reason she is having heart block? She is ten now.

[Jennheart]

I just read your post. I had ventricular septal defect as a baby. I had to get a pacemaker because I got complete surgical heart block after they sutured me. The damage was done to the SA node which is your own natural pacemaker. If I were you I would look into what happened during surgery that caused the needle to get "lost" I wish you the best !

[ed34]

This is really difficult to answer because there are many things to consider. Risking open heart surgery, risking not damaging the heart further by trying to remove a needle could make matters far worse and not better. If the AV node was damaged due to the needle, there is a high chance it would have been damaged by repairing the septal defect because they have to suture right in that area. What I would be more concerned with is the likelihood of the needles moving and causing more damage. The heart is continually in motion, so it will be moving around the needle. I would ask the Doctors if the needle could move, even penetrate the ventricles.

[alehisa]

She had ventricular suptle defect..if I'm correct on the spelling. Everything she had wrong has healed. Except for the heart block.she had surgery to fix a hole she had. Like I said everything has healed but where the needle is at. When I bring it up they hush me and say there is no problem and quickly move to something else. If she has healed from everything else..if the needle was reemoved couldn't she heal while growing?

[ed34]

Is the surgery the reason for the heart block and is it third degree heart block (complete) ?
The AV node causes a delay between the top chambers and lower chambers of the heart. It basically gives a delay so the top chambers can squeeze blood into the bottom chambers, before letting them squeeze. So if damaged, then there is a possibility the signal to the ventricles is blocked. This would be heart block third degree and a pacemaker would normally be required because it can be life threatening. So, in theory, yes an object buried in the av node, could sufficiently damage the cells and destroy the function of the av node.