Abnormal SAEKG. Worried... can anyone tell me what that means?

[rmontgom21740]

Hello All,

I recently went to Clevland for on going PVC'S.  Still having them but the seem to be calm right now.  My concern.... I had a SAEKG and I received a letter after about almost a month saying the SAEKG was abnormal and they would suggest a cardiac MRI.  What does it mean for a SAEKG to be abnormal?  They don't seem to be very concerned but now that I have received this letter, I am very concerned.  If anyone can provide more information then what the DR has provided I would appreciate it.

Thanks
Rich

[glenntan]

Hi,

I went through a SAEKG before and it took just left then 20 minutes. My cardio was able to interpret the results and review them with me immediately after the test. I think SAEKG is used to pick up late potentials (i..e prolonged gaps between beats) which would indicate damages to the heart muscle. SAEKG is tyically used for diagnosis of ARVD and the extent of damage to the heart muscle after a heart attack.  

That said, it is important for you to go through your results with your doctor and get a professional opinion. Take care and all the best.

Glenn

[Bromley]

Rich, looking over my posts, I see it might have made more sense to have simply said I dont know much about the SAEKG, but that I hope things turn out OK.  Since I had my ablation in 2004 (I had recurring SVT that was starting to get bad) I have to say I had never run into a topic with so many technical complexities and twists and turns until I met with my electrophysiologist for the first time. I am a technical professional and work in electronics where we typically troubleshoot stuff down to the dot, which sets me up perfectly to be frustrated and confused by the field of heart rhythms, but that is just me. In retrospect, I am sure there is a simple explanation out there for the SA EKG, even if the statistics and technical information that go with it and characterize it as a tool for predicting this or that is complicated.

It certainly sounds like you are taking the right approach by having this looked into. There may be rational explanation for the delay on your analysis results. For instance, it would not surprise me to find out that that is how long it took for some expert to assess it, especially if you are using a high volume institution. But dont get discouraged if somebody just dropped the ball.  These types of frustrations are going to come up --- this is all part of the challenge --- and you need to deal with these issues as you continue to solve your problem. Plan on sticking with it for a while, and be glad if you get a clean bill of health after it is all said and done. We will all be here egging you on while you are going through whatever it is.

Anyway, good luck.

[rmontgom21740]

Thanks for responding.  No, the EKG is normal....echo is normal.... stress test is normal.  But the letter I received after a month said the SAEKG was abnormal.  I will call the office today to try to figure out what is going on.  I dont understand.  Thanks again for your comments.

Rich

[Bromley]

Or I may be missing the obvious!! May be the SAEKG, as well as a normal EKG are out of whack and there is an obvious heart rhythm issue. If it is ventricular in nature, that might be a basis for wanting the MRI.

[Bromley]

Initially, I would not be concerned by the information you have here. To me, it would depend on what precipitated the need for the SA EKG. If you have chest pain, angina like symptoms, etc, then PVC's and blockages can go together. Scarring, the result of heart disease, could potentially lead to EKG artifacts that would be easier to see on the SAEKG. Sometimes I have heard of cardiac MRI being used instead of an angiogram to investigate these symptoms. If you do not have angina and PVC's are the only thing that precipitated the SAEKG, then I would say your concern level should be pretty low.

If you have family history of heart trouble, defects from birth that run in the familiy, angina, dizziness or weakness that can be explained by ventricular arrhythmias, or prior testing such as a cardiac stress test with abnormal results, my concern would be higher, but I would avoid becoming alarmed about it. You dont mention these things, however, so I am guessing that you might be dealing with a more statistically common case of PVC's.

Sounds like you may have to wait to find out.  But I have to admit I am as curious as you are as to how this SAEKG thing works (I may request one myself). Let's wait and see if someone answers.