Difference between SVT and PE

[AshwinSankaran]

My wife recently took an air travel for more than 10 hours and after landing,complained of shortness of breath.
She'd feel tired and worn out without having done much work and would often retire early, something unusual for an energetic person like her. She was having these symptoms for 9 days and on the 10th day, she collapsed. She threw up couple of times and became unconscious and her eyes rolled into her head. She also had a seizure on her way to the hospital as reported by the ambulance staff. She was taken to the emergency unit of the hospital nearby and there, the docs had asked her couple of questions and noted that her heart rate was 150+ and her BP was low, she had undertaken a long flight recently etc. The doctors somehow came to the conclusion of SVT and started treating her for the same with 3 doses of adinosene (30mg), followed by amiodarone after 2 hours. Her condition never improved and she suffered a massive cardiac arrest, about 45-60 mins post amiodarone dosage and eventually passed away. She complained of pressure in the chest throghout and denied any pain. The post mortem revealed a massive pulmonary emolism in her system.
Could someone let me know whats the difference between SVT and PE and whether the doctors were right on their part to diagnose DVT induced PE wrongly as SVT?

[AshwinSankaran]

Thanks Bimibrat

I got to know the differences between SVT and PE,in terms of how they are caused..But i was more concerned about the diagnosis that are made to distinguish between SVT and PE..
The doctors in the hospital were fixated on SVT and went on treating that without knowing what has actually happened..they have a mandatory PE protocol in place, which they didnt do, they didnt take a scan to rule out PE and moreover their doctors were either dumb or arrogant..
So if you're aware of the diagnostic differences between SVT and PE kindly let me know

[Bimibrat]

SVT is super ventricular tachycardia (super fast hr) & PE is pulmonary embolism (blood clot or air) the pressure of the plane probably forced it thru and the heart beat faster due to lack of 02

[AshwinSankaran]

Can I please have an Expert Opinion on this?

[AshwinSankaran]

the doctors had all the time in the world..her emboli was comparitively small when she was admitted...the doctors were told about her long air travel in the recent weeks, but they thought the risk was too low...the hospital has a mandatory PE check rule, to be done on every patient, yet they didnt do..they got fixated on SVT and even managed to cook up a statement in her medical records saying we had so many marital issues and she was under immense stress and emotional pressure..At one point, my brother in law, who's a pulmonary and critical care specialist at st johns hospital, springfield, spoke to the docs and told them that SVT cannot be the case and its more likely PE given the history, only for the docs to refuse it..they thought it was SVT due to the rapid HR and they started treating her for the same...it doesnt make it right, when they are following the procedure for an SVT treatment to the letter for a patient suffering from PE...so my honest opinion is that my wife could've been saved easily, but due to the medicine administered by the docs, her heart started pumping slowly thus allowing the emboli/clot to build up and eventually seal her life..

[dolphin8808]

I cannot give an expert opinion obviously as I am not a doctor. But my father had 2 PEs at different times in his life. The symptoms were the same both times though, chest pain and very short of breath. The first time he was admitted after a few days of being so short of breath (he also suffered from COPD) they had to run tests for 2 days before they figured it out. The 2nd time, because of his history, they looked for it right away and started / kept him on blood thinners.

It sounds to me that her adreanline was up hence the HR of 150BPM, hence the SVT diagnosis.  Sounds like the docs just didn't have enough time?  That if after they treated her for SVT and would not of had results, they would have searched further. Again though I am not sure of the procedures or practices the hospitals follow when a patient comes in with her symptoms.

I am so very very sorry for your loss.....