Medical Questions » Heart Questions » Question No. 500
| Question: | I suffer from heart palpitations known as paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. These attacks are frequent and distressing, and a wide range of medications has failed to control them. One heart specialist has suggested heart surgery to cut the nerves in the heart that are causing the problem, but another has cautioned me against this operation. What do you think I should do? |
| Answer: | Heart palpitations can be distressing, but are very rarely serious or life-threatening. The vast majority of patients with this condition can be controlled by medications. These include Inderal, Isoptin and Lanoxin (all only available on prescription) and similar drugs. All these drugs should be tried at various dosages for a reasonable period of time before other procedures or surgery are contemplated.
A new technique called radio frequency ablation can also be used to treat palpitations in some patients. After extensive preparatory investigations, a catheter is threaded through a vein or artery into the appropriate part of the heart and a high-frequency radio wave is used to destroy the abnormal pathway.
Surgery will cure most cases of palpitations if undertaken for the right reasons, but it is quite major surgery with risks of its own.
Surgery is the absolute last resort in this situation, and every other option should be exhausted before it is contemplated. Even then, undertaking major surgery for a problem that itself is not serious (although it may be very annoying) needs to be very carefully considered.
|
|
|
