The catastrophic journey of a retained temporary epicardial pacemaker wire leading toEnterococcus faecalisendocarditis and subsequent stroke

A 52-year-old man underwent triple coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Three months later, he presented to the emergency room with dizziness and left-sided weakness. Workup revealed right frontal parenchymal haemorrhage; also, two retained temporary epicardial pacemaker wires (TEPW) from his previous CABG were observed, one of which had significantly migrated. One wire was found in the soft tissues below the heart; the other transversed the mediastinum from the expected location of the right atrium, perforating the right atrial appendage, entering the lumen of the ascending aorta and coursing into the mid-descending aorta. There were vegetations (Enterococcus spp) on the migrated TEPW and aortic valve, aortic valve endocarditis and aortic regurgitation. In summary, we suspect the migrated TEPW may be the source of bacteria that seeded the aortic valve, causing endocarditis and contributing to the patient's subsequent stroke. Management involved two 6-week antibiotic courses, wire-extraction, aortic valve replacement and redo CABG.