dilated lt. ventricle and arrythmias

[dinamohum]

My 16 yr. old son has been sick for atleast 6 mths if not more.  He is having syncope episodes and nausea and fatigue.  We had an event monitor  put on for 30 days.   It has been on for 5 days and he has had atleast 10 episodes.The monitor is showing  alot of arrythmias. His EKG was abnormal.  He also had an ECG.  It showed a mildely to moderately dilated lt. ventricle.  I can't see a pediatric cardiologist for a mth.  Should I wait that long?  Do they ever do surgery on this.. I am so scared.  My son has always been healthy until now.  He had an emergency appendectomy 3 weeks ago.  I was hoping all these problems were caused by infection or something from his appendix. I know now it wasn't his appendix.  Please give me some good information and advice on whether I should try to get him  in sooner.  Is it life threatening?  Sincerely,    Diane Cates

[grendslori]

The question is: is your son having syncopal episodes or PRE-syncopal episodes? The ECG and the EKG are the exact same test, just to let you know that. If your son has a dilated cardiomyopathy (which is the technical name for what you are saying) this can be caused by a virus that attacked the heart at some point, or it could also be genetic in nature. It could also have been something that just happened. Surgery wouldn't correct this type of cardiomyopathy. However, having said that, the arrhythmias can be diagnosed (which type) in the EP Lab, where the electrical tract of the heart is studied. They can ablate the tracts during that study so that the arrhythmias that he is having will be stopped or greatly reduced. Have you discussed getting your son into the cardiologist sooner with the doctor who ordered the monitor on in the first place? If not, I would call him and ask him if they can get your son in sooner. Cardiomyopathies aren't a good thing to have, but there are drugs that can help your son to feel somewhat better. Try and get in to see the cardiologist sooner than later. If he is passing out, literally, due to arrhythmia problems, especially with a cardiomyopathy, he really needs to be seen to rule out life threatening arrhythmias. Call the pediatric cardiologist's office and explain that he has a cardiomyopathy and is passing out; they will take that seriously and probaly get you in a lot sooner than a month's time.