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Avatar universal

Skips in heart

Can you please tell me if you have ever heard of a mixup on a holter?  My doctor has told me that she thinks my holter I had years ago must have been a mistake.  I had an 8 beat run of NSVT and I have had other holters, stress test, echo and even an EP study and they say my heart is fine.  I still worry about the day when they called me into the hospital and told me that I had VTACH and that is was very serious.  I do feel thumps and small flutters and bumps around in my heart each day but I still have the doctors face in my mind saying "VTACH - very dangerous - not a good thing".  Am I worrying myself sick over nothing do you think?  My last holter said triplet PVC's and triplet PAC's.  It also said something about less than 1% of total beats.  I just can't get over the doctor basically telling me I was going to die from this and then after all the testing they just send me on my merry way and say forget about it.  What do you think?  Is is possible that years ago they saw a run of NVST and it wasn't really a run??  How common are these runs of PVC's in ordinary hearts.  I think I am just seeking some sort of reassuranace.  I have scoured the internet for years and basically scare myself silly when I read about it.
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230125 tn?1193365857
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
The best advice I can offer you is to stop reading the internet unless it is a side run by physicians (american heart association, heart rhythm society, webMD, etc.).  The first step to answer a question is first to understand the question.  If you look up VT without knowing the type of VT, it is going scare you to death.

It sounds like you have normal heart VT.  This means that risk of you dying from cardiac causes is unchanged from a normal population.

70% of the population has PVCs every day.  I am not sure what percent has NSVT.  The important point is not the frequency, it is that normal heart VT is not dangerous.

If you have triplets of of NSVT, it is very possible that you did have an 8 beat run of NSVT. To answer your question tough, yes I have seen many (MANY) holter reports interpretted by a computer that call things NSVT that are not NSVT.  This is why it is important to do more than ready the computer generated summary.  

I would not focus on whether the report many years ago was correct.  Assume that it was correct but also understand that it doesn't change your prognosis.  From the sounds of it, your prognosis is very good.  I can't truly judge that though without reviewing all your medical records -- you will have to trust your doctors on that one.

I hope this helps.
Helpful - 1
Avatar universal
Is there any way you can get a copy of the old Holter so your current doctor could take a look at it?  The actual recording, I mean, not just the summary?  Your doctor may be able to request it.

I know when my old cardiologist would go over my Holter results with me, she was kind enough to look with me at particular times I had noted as being of concern to me, so we had some discussion about various things.  She mentioned that it takes some care to read the recording correctly.  The machines that label them are often wrong, for example.  So I can imagine someone in the past making a mistake.

It looks like they have tested your heart very thoroughly, so personally, as a layperson, I I think you can set your mind at ease about this.

If it's any comfort, last year a doctor told me I had either leukemia or multiple myeloma, and had six months to live, and he was completely wrong.  I still have not calmed down about that.  I know I don't have those things, having been assured by an oncologist, plus having no symptoms a year later, but I am now a nervous wreck about seeing any doctor as I always expect them to tell me something horrible.  Sometimes I think we'd be better off living in the woods instead of seeing doctors.
Helpful - 1

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