Electrophysiology (E.P. Study)

Hello Doctor,

I am a 19-year-old male living in California.  I started having heart problems from the age of 13.  I started getting rapid-heartbeats from playing basketball or running a mile.

These rapid-heartbeats would go away in about 30-90 minutes after onset.  I never went to the E.R. because I didn't have Health Insurance.  I kept on having rapid-heartbeats from playing basketball (I love the sport).  I felt fine after the rapid-heartbeats went away (No palpitations, breathing problems, or weakness) But last year I got a real bad rapid-heartbeat, which scared me and I became sick.  I started to get palpitations and panick attacks.



I went to 3 doctors(2 of them Cardiologists).  They did all the tests like the Echogram and EKG's.  They couldn't find anything wrong.  But then I put on a Holter Recorder and one of the doctors found that I was having irregular-heartbeats.  He said, "There is something wrong in your Electrical System."  I urged him to refer me to a Specialist in that category.  

This new doc said to Go through an E.P. Study.

Would you recommend that I go through it?
Will I become like a normal person? Will I beable to play basketball? Run a mile?

Has anyone else gone through with an E.P? How about the Cather Abilation?


Please help, I am only 19 with no family history of heart problems.

[CCF CARDIO MD - DLB]

If the cardiologist detected a supraventricular arrhythmia, these can often times be cured by catheter ablation after an EP study. These are very safe and very effective procedures. They are successful in permanently eliminating the arrhythmia about 90% of the time.