Joe

[bjg05044]

I was admitted into the hospital for Atrial Fib which converted back after 4-6 hours. All lab work came back normal and he diagnosed it as lone AF.  They decided to do a echocardiogram before I left and everything came back good with the exception of an EF rate of 51%.  I exercise regularly and have never noticed any unusual issues with my heart other than the occassional palpitations when I'm unders stress or drink too much caffeine.  I'm a 40 year old male in good conditioning and was wondering if I should lay off on the exercise since my EF rate is lower than normal?

My other question is before the echo I was on cardizam and had just been given lopressor an hour or two before the procedure.  Could the meds have cause my EF rate to be low?  Is this something I need to follow up on quickly.  


Thanks,

Joe

[Douglas Bogart, MD]

The ejection fraction of 51% is at the lower end of normal and it is possible that the  drugs could have contributed to the lower estimation of the EF.  However, sometimes the echo  EF if it is done solely by visual estimation can appear to be at the lower end of normal.  I would talk to the cardiologist who read the study to get their opinion on the EF.

[bjg05044]

FYI- I'm 6'2" and 175 pounds with a 2 minute resting recovery of 49