Automatic Cardioverter Defibrillator Implantation Side Effects and Warnings

Possible Complications

If you are planning to have a defibrillator implanted, your doctor will review a list of possible complications, which may include:

• Damage to the heart or lungs
• Damage to blood vessels
• Infection
• Bleeding
• Bruising
• Inappropriate shocks or device malfunction

Some factors that may increase the risk of complications include:

• Obesity
• History of smoking
• History of excess alcohol consumption
• Bleeding or blood-clotting problems
• Use of some medicines

Call Your Doctor

After you leave the hospital, contact your doctor if any of the following occurs:

• You feel a shock
• Signs of infection, including fever and chills
• Redness, swelling, increasing pain, excessive bleeding, or discharge from the incision site
• Pain that you cannot control with the medicines you have been given
• Cough or severe nausea or vomiting

These symptoms are medical emergencies. Call 911 if:

• You have chest pain or shortness of breath
• You feel lightheaded or dizzy and do not feel a shock
• You are still feeling symptoms after a shock
• You feel three or more shocks in a row

In case of an emergency, CALL 911.