Aa
Results of echo
So I underwent an ablation last year upon being diagnosed with atrial fibrilation, all has been well since, regular check ups have been good, although I did question my EF had gone from 60% to 54% from one echo to the other, I was told it’s not an exact science and there’s room for operator error but both were fine and within normal range.
I wore s holter for seven days last week and they picked up a run of 15 beats lasting 5 seconds of unsustained ventricular tachycardia which the consultant told me on the phone was “far far more dangerous than my af”, he then asked me if anyone in my family had died suddenly for no reason... all this really worries me, I mean they told me that all my tests were good, my echo, stress test.... so upon looking at my echo it said
Lv normal size with delayed relaxation, then my E/A ratio was 0.71.... I googled this and it seems I have dyastolic dysfunction,
Why would my hospital say all is good and ok if this wasn’t the case by my echo..... very worried now about my heart and my future
I wore s holter for seven days last week and they picked up a run of 15 beats lasting 5 seconds of unsustained ventricular tachycardia which the consultant told me on the phone was “far far more dangerous than my af”, he then asked me if anyone in my family had died suddenly for no reason... all this really worries me, I mean they told me that all my tests were good, my echo, stress test.... so upon looking at my echo it said
Lv normal size with delayed relaxation, then my E/A ratio was 0.71.... I googled this and it seems I have dyastolic dysfunction,
Why would my hospital say all is good and ok if this wasn’t the case by my echo..... very worried now about my heart and my future
Ef is good, and if afib hasnt returned thats good...
Depending on how your afib behaved theres a risk for electrically induced cardiomyopathy.. Structural heart issues from the atrial impulses causing your ventricles to beat too fast.
They vary in severity, and it depends heavily on how fast your heart was beating while you had afib episodes, the total amount of time you were in afib, other complicating diseases such as high blood pressure, lung disease, congenital abnormalities in your heart or blood vessels or atherosclerosis. Your immune response, age and genetics can play a role too.
As you can imagine with all these complicating factors make it hard to predict the degree to which any one individual is at risk for developing these cardiomyopathies.
Likewise patients heal to varying degrees, in some the structural issues that were created by the afib resolve almost completely, in others a "percentage" of dysfunction can remain for a lifetime. Unfortunately as in the development of the dysfunction the degree to which one recovers varies widely due to numerous factors.
Diastolic dysfunction in your case however isnt super concerning. Certainly the individual on the phone was right, your vtach is going to require and ablation or icd implant.. Or both.
That long an episode of vt significantly increases your risk for sudden cardiac death. Given your history there is a distinct possibility that a afib induced cardiomyopathy left behind scarring/reentrant substrate that could support a more sustained or dangerous episodes. Good news is, such a thing is easy to fix, jist another ablation and its gone.. But yes, id focus your attention on the vtach.
If you havent been given a defib vest.. And you ever find yourself feeling crappy, lethargic, short of breath, especially with palpitations it would be a good idea and dial 911 or have someone immediately (as in.. Someone in the same house when you experience symptoms) get you to an emergency room to be checked out. If in public try to be aware of the nesrest aed snd if you gotta pass out try to do so as close to one as possible.
Dont delay or miss any appointments with the ep
Depending on how your afib behaved theres a risk for electrically induced cardiomyopathy.. Structural heart issues from the atrial impulses causing your ventricles to beat too fast.
They vary in severity, and it depends heavily on how fast your heart was beating while you had afib episodes, the total amount of time you were in afib, other complicating diseases such as high blood pressure, lung disease, congenital abnormalities in your heart or blood vessels or atherosclerosis. Your immune response, age and genetics can play a role too.
As you can imagine with all these complicating factors make it hard to predict the degree to which any one individual is at risk for developing these cardiomyopathies.
Likewise patients heal to varying degrees, in some the structural issues that were created by the afib resolve almost completely, in others a "percentage" of dysfunction can remain for a lifetime. Unfortunately as in the development of the dysfunction the degree to which one recovers varies widely due to numerous factors.
Diastolic dysfunction in your case however isnt super concerning. Certainly the individual on the phone was right, your vtach is going to require and ablation or icd implant.. Or both.
That long an episode of vt significantly increases your risk for sudden cardiac death. Given your history there is a distinct possibility that a afib induced cardiomyopathy left behind scarring/reentrant substrate that could support a more sustained or dangerous episodes. Good news is, such a thing is easy to fix, jist another ablation and its gone.. But yes, id focus your attention on the vtach.
If you havent been given a defib vest.. And you ever find yourself feeling crappy, lethargic, short of breath, especially with palpitations it would be a good idea and dial 911 or have someone immediately (as in.. Someone in the same house when you experience symptoms) get you to an emergency room to be checked out. If in public try to be aware of the nesrest aed snd if you gotta pass out try to do so as close to one as possible.
Dont delay or miss any appointments with the ep
2 Comments
Thanks for the answer, I’ve spoken to my arrhythmia nurse who said I shouldn’t be too worried about the run of nsvt, that it’s quite a common finding on a holter and as long as there’s no structural abnormalities to my heart then at worst they’d treat with a beta-blocker, which seems to be different to what you’ve said, I must admit what you’ve said has scared me quite a lot.
I only had one episode of afib as far as I know it lasted maybe 10-12 hours, in A&E my heart rate was around 120-150 they gave me a beta blocker and sent me home, upon waking the following morning I was back in sinus rhythm,
Over the last year I’ve had 3 echos, one stress test and 4 holter monitors, if I had a cardiomyopathy would that have shown up somehow on the echos, the nurse said looking at my echo I have a strong heart so she’d be surprised if anything untoward showed up on the mri.... but I’m very worried about it indeed now
I only had one episode of afib as far as I know it lasted maybe 10-12 hours, in A&E my heart rate was around 120-150 they gave me a beta blocker and sent me home, upon waking the following morning I was back in sinus rhythm,
Over the last year I’ve had 3 echos, one stress test and 4 holter monitors, if I had a cardiomyopathy would that have shown up somehow on the echos, the nurse said looking at my echo I have a strong heart so she’d be surprised if anything untoward showed up on the mri.... but I’m very worried about it indeed now
Not sure if it’s at all important but I also have a right bundle branch block
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