1988 Volume 30 Issue 11 Pages 2673-2677_1
Endoscopic polypectomy using high-frequency voltage is generally thought to be contraindication in patients with an implanted pacemaker. We succeeded in endoscopic polypectomy in a 57-year-old woman who had undergone implantation of a pacemaker for sick sinus syndrome. She was admitted to our hospital with the chief complaint of anal bleeding. Both colonography and colonoscopy revealed a semi-pedunculated polyp in the sigmoid colon. During polypectomy the mode of the pacemaker was changed to avoid the cardiac arrest resulting from oversensing, and care was taken to avert troubles of the pacemaker by taking appropriate distance between the pacemaker and a diathermy snare, as well as by regulating the energy for polypectomy. We believe that endoscopic polypectomy can be performed uneventfully even in patients with an implanted pacemaker in collaboration with specialists of cardiology.
