Her Heart is Beating in Rhythm Again

She’s herself again — Radiofrequency ablation corrected Mary Easley’s irregular heartbeat, and now the Bethlehem, Pa., woman can pick up her grandson Braedon for a face-to-face cuddle.

It came without warning—Mary Easley’s heart would start beating in a fast, irregular rhythm. Simple tasks like gardening made her feel dizzy and lightheaded. “I would lie down until it passed, but it kept happening more often until I couldn’t do much at all,” says the Bethlehem, Pa., woman. “I couldn’t even lift my grandson.”

Easley’s problem was atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm problem. “Atrial fibrillation causes the top chambers of the heart to beat rapidly in a disorganized way,” says Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network electrophysiologist Sultan Siddique, M.D. “The slightest amount of activity makes your heart react like you’re running a race.”

Atrial fibrillation most commonly affects people who are obese or have high blood pressure, diabetes, an overactive thyroid or breathing problems while sleeping (sleep apnea). “It affects your quality of life and can lead to other serious health problems,” says Siddique’s colleague, cardiologist Vadim Levin, M.D. “It weakens heart muscle (cardiomyopathy), and because blood is not flowing properly through the heart, it may clot and cause a stroke.”

For Easley, prescription medication worked for a while, but the symptoms soon returned. That’s when Siddique suggested a leading-edge procedure called atrial fibrillation ablation (available in this area only at Lehigh Valley Hospital) to correct the problem.

Ablation is performed under general anesthesia, but doesn’t require opening the chest or stopping the heart. “Through a small incision in the groin, we move a catheter through an artery until it reaches the top left chamber of the heart,” Siddique says. “That’s where the problem originates.” The catheter delivers heat energy to kill nerve roots that cause the heart to quiver irregularly.

After two or three days in the hospital, patients go home wearing a heart monitor that constantly records heart function and detects any changes in rhythm. Of those who have the procedure, 80 percent are completely cured, although symptoms may linger for up to three months. A repeat procedure for patients who need it increases the success rate to 90 percent.

After ablation, patients continue taking their atrial fibrillation medication. “But if you’re not experiencing symptoms, and if the heart monitor is not recording any irregularities, we slowly wean you off medication,” Siddique says.

That was the case for Easley. “I feel more like myself today than I have in five years,” she says. “Best of all, I’m able to pick up my grandson and hold him whenever we’re together.”

Published from Healthy You Magazine, July-August 2007

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