WPW Pattern

[Nikki599]

I was wondering if an WPW Ekg can be wrong. I have severe anxiety and out of 40 EKG's I have had only one showed WPW pattern. I wore a halter monitor for 30 days and for 48 hours and it showed fast heart rethym of about 120-140 with normal sinus. I have some doctors telling me that the EKG could of been wrong, but one doctor stated that I do have WPW just because of this one EKG. No one in my family has WPW and I have more anxiety because of this. Can this just be bad EKG.
Thank You:)

[LG42]

I highly recommend taking wpw seriously. I was a very healthy young female (32) when I almost died from it out of the blue! I had an ekg 7 years prior and those ER docs missed it also! It's nothing to be taken lightly and definitely get a second opinion.

[Nikki599]

Thanks you everyone for your answers.

[grendslori]

One more thing, Nikki, Can a person have a W-P-W complex and not actually have W-P-W? It's possible but the person would have to have a severe form of heart disease. If a person has OPEN-HEART SURGERY (not a cath ablation) for ablation of an origional W-P-W and has a Maheim Fiber along with a severe Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, the combination of those three things can give the look of W-P-W. That is possible; we've actually lived that one. (Thank your lucky stars!)

[grendslori]

Nikki, get a copy of the EKG that showed that you have W-P-W and take it back to the doctor. W-P-W has a distinct formation of the complex. The EKG would not be wrong in it's picking that type of complex up. It's a short P-R complex with a wide QRS. If the EKG complex was 'wrong' the technician who ran it would have realized that and would have brought in a second machine to verify the problem. There are VERY FEW things that 'go wrong' on an EKG and every technician I know (and I ran a department) knows what the problems are and how to correct those problems. You are not having a problems with W-P-W because the tract in your heart is not 'electrically active', even at the time of your stress test. With you not being 'active', there would be no point in doing an ablation. Ablations are usually done on people who have breakthrough arrhythmias while they are taking medications to try and control the problems. These are people who whose lives are affected by the arrhythmias. It's good that you do not have a 'problem' with your W-P-W; that doesn't mean that you don't have the extra electrical tract. A lot of people have this problem; it's probably the most common of all the electrical problems of the heart; if not, it's right up there.  

[Nikki599]

I just had my stress test and it was completely normal. I am not having any symtoms therefore they stated I do not need any ablation. Some doctors still telling me the EKG could of went wrong and I do not actually have WPW. The only way to tell 100% is to do a cathedral.

[jj1017]

I had an ablation in Jan for WPW..it did not show up on all my EKG's either. In fact, mine was found by my cardiologist when he was looking at an old ekg from an er visit several years back..it was missed by my former cardiologist. So its very possible that some tests show the pattern while others don't. Good news is that ablation for WPW is very succesful, and about as uncomfortable as a long dentist visit ;)
Good luck!

[Nikki599]

I have a stress test today. I talked with another Cardiologist and he stated that if that shows up normal, than there is no way to really tell 100% if a person has WPW without the catheter in person heart. So I will have to see what the stress test shows..

[PikaPika88]

My wpw shows up on the EKG when my heart rate is 60.  I'm a bit different to the normal wpw.  My av node ablated, I depend on the accessory pathway to take over the conduction between the Atrial and Ventricle.  I remember before the ablation, my heart rate can go high between 120 - 240.  It can last for 3 days non stop.  I also have good time without palpitation.

Many doctors said my heart is normal.  Only when they listened to my heart was beating too fast then they said "it was something wrong with your heart"!  When they put me on the treadmill stress test, he said I got Brugada varian.  They don't know what name to give me before the diagnosis.  They all said, "naughty heart"!

[Nikki599]

Also I never had a rate of 160 or higher even when the wpw ekg was taken.

[Nikki599]

Thanks for your reply. I have bad anxiety over it, I was reading online about people who never had symptoms dying suddenly. It scares me. But my doctor stated its rare its still scary though. And I am also confused because some cardiologist stated even know I do have the WPW ekg there was not symtoms with it at all. They stated because of all the testing was normal, that I do not have it.

[grendslori]

W-P-W can be active only at certain times and that is when you would see it on an EKG. There would be no mistaking this syndrome because of the classic EKG complex that it shows....a short P-R interval along with a wide QRS complex. A heart rate of 120-140 is simply a tachycardia rate and is not the rate that you would see with W-P-W which is generally much higher: 160+. Ventricular arrhythmias tend to be lower in rate: 140-. Just because you do not have a problem right now with the W-P-W doesn't mean that you won't in the future. It also does not mean that you will ever have a problem and even if you do, SVT isn't life threatening; there are several medicines that are available as well as having an ablation if the drugs don't work. My daughter who had severe heart muscle disease and several different electrical tract problems (W-P-W, SSS,RBBB,LBBB and a Maheim Fiber) never had a problem, even from the W-P-W which showed up on 100% of her EKGs. She had open heart surgery to ablate her W-P-W in Houston when she was 7 years old. You are not going to die from W-P-W, so try not to worry about it; many people have this syndrome and lead perfectly healthy lives.

[Nikki599]

hello,
the thing is with me they have watched me have palpitation and recorded them, and they can not find anything showing wpw, Only 1 ekg was found with no symtoms. I am told by some docs i have and some say i dont. confused.

[PikaPika88]

Hi Nikki, my wpw pattern also sometime visible on EKG and sometime not show at all.  The experience EP or cardiologist can tell.  I got no one in my family has wpw too.  When you have any symptom then go quick to ER and let them catch it on the monitor or EKG.  I think wpw is very well hide.  It depends the accessory pathways active or not.