atrial flutter

[cjl123]

My son has been recently diagnosed with intermittent atrial flutter with a holter monitor.  He is a very healthy 14 year old year round competitive swimmer.  He swims 6 days a week for 2 hours in training and has for the almost 4 years.  He has no palpitations, no shortness of breath except normal after laps, no dizziness, no confusion, no blue color to his fingertips, inner mouth lip area, no complaints of chest pain, numbness, arm pain.  Nothing at all.  Do I have any reason to be concerned can he keep swimming.  His last physical was  years ago when the Dr. did not notice any irregularity.  Could this be hormone induced with normal teen years.  We have no history since he was adopted. One Doctor wants aggressive testing, another says this is not unusual for the population and to only be concerned if he has any symptoms  

[Jerry_NJ]

Flutter, or worse fibrillation, is an electrical problem, not a physical/structural problem such as is checked by a untrsound, or echocardiogram. Still, it might be reasonable to ask the doctor about taking a look with sound waves at the physical condition of the heart.  Thi echo isn't real expensive less than $1,000 in my experience (USA), and is likely covered if you have insurance and the doctor is willing to prescribe as a next step --- if it is the next step -- following the monitor.

[NYCDoc]

Atrial flutter in a 14 year old is not usual. It may suggest a underlying congenital heart condition. A simple test is to get a ultrasound examination of his heart. It is non-invasive and would be reassuring if it is normal.