Delta Waves

[Candy0529]

I am a 28 year old active duty navy female.  I have been to a cardiologist twice.  My ekg has come back with a Delta wave.  I get palpitations on a fairly regular basis.  My resting heart rate is around 46 - 50 bpm.  My cholesterol is 160.  Bad 100.6  Good 60, triglycerides 24.  I am very worried about this Delta wave.  I have no arrythmias, am active, no heart disease runs in the family that I know of.  I weigh 140, and am 5'7".  Should I be worried about going to see the electrophysiologist.  Just today I was having palpitations while playing basketball, it felt like my heart was skipping.  I could hear it in my stomach and a double sound in my neck.

[grendslori]

You would have something called WPW (Wolffe-Parkinson-White Syndrome) With a normal electrical system, the impulse starts off at the Sinus Node (SA Node) and starts to travel down toward the AV Node then down through the Bundles Of His where it then breaks off to the Left and Right Bundles. The EKG reflects this with the normal P,Q,R,S,T and in some people, U Waves. In WPW the EKG has a shortened P wave which has an upswing which goes from the P wave up to the R wave, bypassing the Q Wave. That upswing is known as the Delta Wave. What is happening is the electrical impulse at that point is 'jumping' from the normal electrical pathway to an abnormal one and then it will 'jump' back over to the normal pathway again. When all of this is happening, the patient can have fast heart rates of 160+. If you are having arrhythmias (irregular or fast heart rates) then you should probably be seen by an EP Specialist and have him evaluate you for an ablation of the unwanted pathway. Usually WPW is congenital in nature so you have probably had this since birth. It can also be genetic and run in families. Take care.    

[Bromley]

A delta wave normally represents pre-excitation of the ventricle. This sometimes happens because you have an additional pathway for the spark to traverse from atria to ventricles. Quite often, an ablation can fix this sort of problem with a high rate of success and low incidence of complications.  

I know from having WPW myself what it feel, and how distressing it can be. Don't worry. The EP can help you.

[Jerry_NJ]

I see you made the same post twice, under different titles/subject -  I'll move to delete the duplicate.

As for you post, I don't recall reading any posts on the subject of a "delta wave" so I can't comment on that.  As for the EP, in my experience it is common practice for a Cardiologist to refer a patient with arrhythmia problems to an Electro-Physiologist (EP).  My suggestion is to go with the recommendations.  As an active duty military person you have full medical coverage, so there's no extra financial cost for you.

[is_something_wrong]

Your question has been answered, see posts below.

If you need advice from a medical doctor, you should use the Expert forum, but I can see one of the answerers seems to be a medical professional.