Questions as I head towards possible ablation....

[tom_h]

Hi.  I'm a 60 y/o male who's had PSVT's since the age of 6.  I've controlled them successfully with Valsalva.  In the past 5 years, my episodes have in increase in frequency from 4 or 5 per year to 3-5 time per month.  I've been wearing a long term monitor (one angle only, lead #1) for the past 3 weeks, and have recorded 2 waking episodes, and one brief episode in the sleep which reverted on its own (something that usually never happens).  My cardiologist said the waking rate was extremely high for a person of my age, 210 BPM.  He's concerned that although I'm in excellent pulmonary health, as I get older, I may not be able to tolerate the extreme rate as I do now.  I'm seeing Dr. Lawrence Rosenthal, a noted electrophysiologist in 2 weeks to discuss my options.  To those that have had ablation that might be reading this:

1) How many episodes did you have per month before you considered this option?
2) Is this procedure considered routine?  How do they know they're ablating the correct location?
3) This may sound foolish, but before you went in, did you have your personal matters in place? ie. tell the wife where all the accounts and life insurance policies are located.

I would love to remove this millstone that has challanged me my entire life, and prevented me from excelling in sports that I love and was extremely good at; speed skating and cycling.  I'm now an old man, too old to regain my former status in those sports, but I'd love to wake up and know that today wasn't going to be the day for one more. Thanks for reading.

[Mom2four85]

"3) This may sound foolish, but before you went in, did you have your personal matters in place? ie. tell the wife where all the accounts and life insurance policies are located"

as with any surgery there are risks involved and you should always have your affairs in order no matter your age - make sure you file a will; advanced directives; living wills etc with the hospital (get this notarized first) and make sure you read each line of what they have you sign

Last year at age 42, I went in for what I thought was a simple ablation to rid myself of pvc's/vt and had a few complications that they had to revive me.  This was not what I wanted, but because I signed a consent form before surgery and really didn't read it all, they had to do whatever possible to keep me alive

[tom_h]

Thanks all for your responses.  My appointment with the electrophysiologist is on October 12th.  As I mentioned earlier, I've been wearing a 30 day monitor and have recorded a couple of "classic" SVT events, one which occured a couple of days ago.  I was able to record both the onset of it, as well as the conversion to normal rhythm.  I am looking forward to this visit and a possible resolution.

[cindy707]

Hi i had my ablation almost 4 years ago...my anniversary date will be on Oct. 5th.  In answer to your questions:
1. There is no rhyme or reason as to how many per month...they are random and come and go when they want to....i got to the point where my heart was slamming into the 300's and then obviously was forced to make the decision where i should not have put it off so long in doing my research..the issue is if they are getting progressive i cannot stress enough to you time to take care of it..it gets worse before it gets better if the doc feels its progressive so time to put on your big boy pants and deal w. it.  Oh and by the way i am 56.
2. An ablation is a no brainer and alot easier than a root canal i always say.  They know where to ablate by something called mapping where they map of the sequence of events when your heart beats normally and then generate an abnormal beat that is the indicator on where to ablate and hopefully they will be doing this by cryo or freezing or RF's becaue burning is not the way to go anymore.
3.I loved Chuperosas message to you...we all should even before something happens to our hearts have everything in order because yes...life happens,,,,,and ends unexpectedly at times for some.  I put everything in order a month before my procedure, wrote letters to my daughters and put everything where i told them it would be w. instructions .

There is nothing to worry about with ablations...they are very non invasive..just going up thru a vein in the groin and correction from there...but yep all of us that faced it thought the same things...that we thought there was a chance that we wouldn't make it out..i had an unusual case and gave the doc a run for his money but i definately was not a normal situation but everything got corrected, i got my life back and now am doing payback to my two high maintenance daughters who are now married...LOL...i wish you luck and don;t worry its an easy procedure and you will laugh at yourself in the end about your worries..most people go home a couple of hours after the procedure...

[Bromley]

I had psvt for over 20 years and was able to tolerate it, although it really put a damper on my when it happened. I did have episode once while swimming in the ocean. No fun. For a very long time, I had only one incident per year, and it would convert on its own after 5 minutes. Max rates were pretty high ( I forget, but think it was around 250-300), and in the end I was getting more and more episodes.  The ablation was easy and eliminated the long incidents of PSVT.

The main thing here is to get someone qualified to work on you. Results do vary. And are dependent on the skill of the people doing it, as well as on what type of condition you have. Drawbacks of ablation include risk of stroke (reported anywhere between 0.5 and 5%). Nothing to sneeze at. So the main thing is to get informed and optimize your chances of success.

[chuparosa]

I also have psvt and I cannot stand it. I can't control mine with valsalva. Wish I could. I used to only get 2 or 3 attacks a year but this year I have had 5 so far, two of which I had to get an adenosine shot to stop. I live under the shadow of another attack and I can't wait to get an ablation. I'm saving up for one and I am close to my financial goal so hopefully I will have it done soon. I'm not sure if doctors would call the procedure routine but it is generally regarded as safe. Your doctor wil map out your heart and discover the site of your problem during the EP study. And yes, you should have all your personal matters in place regardless of medical conditions.