Ablation

Hi, has anyone had an ablation for sinus node disease, my child has this plus svt, vt, pathway mediations, bigeminy...currently on flecainide and bisoprolol but has breakthrough of any of the above arrhythmias. Just wondering if anyone can share similar experience inparticular for sinus node disease. She also has a dual pacemaker. I have a lot of concerns about ablation as she has so many arrhythmias.

3 Comments

Too many arrhythmias for one ablation

by golden_snitch - 2013-08-18 01:08:09

Hi!

I have had pretty much all of the mentioned arrhythmias, except for ventricular tachycardia (VT). When you say sinus node disease, do you mean you child has sinus node tachycardia all the time or does it have a slow sinus node or tachy-brady-syndrome, so both?

What do they want to ablate? With all the arrhythmias your child has, I guess the VT is the one that should be adressed first, because it's a potentially lethal arrhythmia. The sinus node tachycardia, the SVTs and the different pathways are not per se dangerous, only the VT is.

I started out with a permanent sinus tachycardia for which I had three ablations. Six weeks after the third ablation I needed the pacemaker due to bradycardia. I then came down with AV-nodal reentrant-tachycardia, ectopic atrial tachycardias, atrial flutter, junctional tachycardia, more ectopic atrial tachycardias and pacemaker mediated tachycardia due to a retrograde conduction in my AV-node. I had eight ablations all together, the last one being an AV-node ablation, because there just wasn't any alternative. My sinus node ablations caused so much scar tissue that I developed superior vena cava syndrome and had to have open heart surgery to reconstruct the vein and the upper part of the right atrium.

Given all the arrhythmias your child has, it might very well need several ablations, too. They cannot target all those arrhythmias in just one ablation. That's why I was asking what they want to ablate first. If the drugs don't work, then your child doesn't really have an alternative to an ablation. If I were you, I'd let them do at least one, even if it's just for taking a look around from the inside of the heart and getting a clearer picture of the arrhythmias. Sometimes it's difficult to interpret the EKGs, so an EP study (always done before they start to ablate) might help to understand your child's arrhythmias better. How old is your child? Sometimes kids, especially the younger ones, outgrow certain arrhythmias.

Best wishes
Inga

yes

by Ajfcabin - 2013-08-18 05:08:47

Hi Ladywolf,

I developed svt as a teenager and evenutally also heart block and now recently vt. The drs believe it is a genetic problem...possibly progressive cardiac conduction disorder but Im being tested as well as my twin sister. We dont have any family history of these problems but since my sister is developing the same issues I have a dual icd pacer and now am on sotalol . I had ablations but no exact point or scar tissue was found to ablate.

Ablations can either help cure the arrythimias or see how at risk your child is. How old is your child? At children hospitals they usually sedate the child enough that the child wont remember it. Any family history of these problems?

Ablation

by ladywolf - 2013-08-20 09:08:19

Thankyou for your comments, yes my child in her teens has sinus node disease, can be known as tachy/brady syndrome and also suffers from other arrhythmias. She has a pacemaker for the slow rhythms and meds for the fast which arent being controlled. After seeing her consultant today, an EP study will be done and ablation so just waiting for a date. He has made it clear he wants her to be fully awake for this but she would rather be sedated? can anyone tell me what ablation feels like and are the incisions in the groin uncomfortable. Some of these are her concerns. Many thanks for the support

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