Re: supraventricular tachycardia

Posted By CCF CARDIO MD-APS on July 07, 1998 at 09:38:02:

In Reply to: supraventricular tachycardia posted by Laura on June 29, 1998 at 11:26:08:






My son was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia at 7 months. He is now 26 months and still having problems. He was poorly controlled on Lanoxin and Inderal so we chose to take him off all meds and only treat the episodes when the occured. The cardiologist refuses to consider that there is any underlying problems such as thyroid and says that his case is perfectly routine. He is still having frequent episodes (3 this month)and goes up to about 220. He shows no signs of distress and a small dose of inderal always stops it.  My question is should we be concerned that he is still having such frequent episodes and is it possible that something more is going on besides a straight forward svt?



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Dear Laura,
The diagonsis of SVT in children carries a good prognosis, and one the child is
close to 10 years old, s/he can have an ablation procedure which is curative in greater
than 90% of cases.  Your son should be followed regularly by a pediatric electrophysiologist
that can evaluate him for further needs as well as future ablation.  If ever your son
has symptoms that are different or new symptoms, rergardless of the result of some
inderal the physician following the patient should be made aware.  Again I tell you
that it is very good that your son can 'get away' with only taking the medications on an as
needed basis in that he will not suffer any potential side effects of taking medications on a daily basis.
In other words some children have 'frequent episodes' on a daily basis and require daily and antiarrythmic
medications (examples include flecanide, amiodarone, and sotalol.)  As part of his work-up your son should have had
an echocardiogram to evaluate for structural heart disease, which is a whole other diagnosis that requires
separate follow-up and treatment.  Of course most children with SVT have just that, SVT and no structural heart disease.
Information provided in the heart forum is intended for general medical informational purposes only, actual diagnosis
and treatment can only be made by your physician(s).