Re: WPW

Posted By CCF CARDIO MD - MTR on November 17, 1998 at 12:20:22:

In Reply to: WPW posted by janelle on November 16, 1998 at 01:23:49:






I am a 27 year old female who has been diagnosed with WPW since my 25th
birthday nearly two years ago. I experience fainting spells shortness of breath etc. I had an EPS and the surgeons found five extra pathways in my heart which they abliated. Before the operation I was taking 200mg of flecaninde a day with 50 mg of sotol every night. It took a awhile for the doctors to get the appropriate dosages right. One month after my successful EPS and RFA I began experiencing palpitations and I nearly passed out twice. I have recently (last week) had another EPS to abilate any more pathways however the doctors were unsuccessful. I am now with a heart monitor for four weeks and am not taking any tablets. So far I have had a few palpitations but upon recording them they are not sufficient to
be recorded. My question is that is it possible that the other extra pathways will not be found? Has anyone had this problem? It appears that when I was going through a stressful time more pathways became active is that possible? Thanks for your help.....



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Dear Janelle, thank you for your question.  It sounds like you have multiple accessory pathways that are difficult to ablate during an EP study.  Without knowing the exact results from your EP studies, I really can't determine if there are extra pathways that cannot be ablated.   I think you're wearing a long-term cardiac monitor now to help determine if you are still having tachycardia that could indicated that you still have an active accessory pathway.  Your cardiologists are being appropriately cautious since aggressive ablation attempts could damage your AV node which would then require that you get a permanent pacemaker.  Your cardiologists may be able to devise an adequate medical regimen to suppress your tachycardia enough that you don't need another ablation.  Your problem certainly does exist but I don't have any good data on the incidence of multiple accessory pathways.  Anxiety and stress certainly can induce tachycardia so try to control stress in your life. Additionally, alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine can precipitate tachycardia so you should avoid these agents.  Good luck!
I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.
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