Inadvertent Transarterial Pacemaker Insertion: An Unusual Complication

We describe an unusual complication of pacemaker treatment in a patient who died after a replacement operation. In a difficult situation in which a functioning pacemaker was highly desirable and in which most of the available veins had already been used, the pacemaker electrode was inserted, by mistake, through a small artery. This was not detected by fluoroscopy during surgery. The postoperative X‐ray examination seemed to indicate that the electrode tip was located in the coronary sinus, but the subsequent autopsy revealed it to be located in the left ventricle.