That sure looks like VT and not SVT. Given your family background with SCD, it would be best to follow EP suggestion and get an ICD. The optimal treatment would be ablation plus ICD and the ablation is complex so hopefully your EP is skilled and experienced with VT ablation. Once the ICD is in, you will have more choices even if the ablation is not successful. You will want to have a successful ablation in addition to the ICD. The closest centers of excellence (the ones that handle the most complex cases at sufficient volume) include -
Medical College of Georgia (Augusta, GA)
University of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, OK)
Intermountain Medical Center (Murray, UT)
St. David’s Medical Center (Austin, TX)
The University of Kansas Hospital (Kansas City, KS)
U of Penn (Philadelphia)
Mount Sinai, Columbia U (NYC)
I am glad you caught this in time.
The EKG shows VT. Given your family history of sudden death, what the EP is suggesting is the standard of care, ablation plus ICD implant. Because the ablation is not simple and highly dependent on the skill and experience of the EP. The ICD will protect you from SCD nonetheless so you will have choices later on even if the ablation is unsuccessful. I am glad you caught this in time and best wishes for a completely successful outcome. Let us know how things go.
Sorry about the repeat, the first post disappeared and now it is there.
Do you know anything about Sentara Heart Hospital in Norfolk?
Sorry, Don't know the center or the EPs there at all. As far as ICD implant, most heart and vascular centers will know how to do that reasonably well. As for VT ablation, completely different skill set so you will want to know how many the EP does per year and his success and major adverse event rate. You them to ask them directly. The EP needs to do a minimum of 50 procedures to be considered a competent expert in VT ablation. The list I have above are EPs that do over 100 VT ablation procedures/year in addition to their access to robotic magnetic navigation. The latter tool is way better than hands for complex ablations of which VT ablation is the most complex of all. I can think of 2 other places that have top hands, Emory and Harvard (Brighams and Women) but they don't have the magnets yet.
I meant minimum 50 VT ablation procedures/year as it relates to expertise.