EP Studies Changing Lives,
Restoring Health in a Heartbeat
After 40 years of living with an unpredictable heart condition, Joella Bassett has found relief
For more than 40 years, Joella Bassett lived with a heart condition she thought would never be cured.
She was just 16 when she first experienced a rapid heartbeat that would begin for no reason, end just as abruptly and leave Joella shaken and fearful for when the next inexplicable episode would hit.
”I could be sitting still, and my heart would beat so fast, it felt like I’d been running,” the 57-year-old woman says.
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| Joella Bassett enjoys being an active grandmother. Romping with Emily (foreground) and Katie, Joella is no longer plagued by worries of having another heart-related episode. |
She began each morning not knowing whether her heart rhythm problem would suddenly appear at some point during the day. The uncertainty became a part of life. Sometimes weeks passed without an episode, other times her heart would race several times in one day.
But not anymore, thanks to an advanced heart procedure called an electrophysiology study (EP).
EP Studies Becoming More Common
”There has been a rapid evolution of technology and knowledge in general, and all of a sudden EP studies have become a major part of the management of patients with heart rhythm problems,” says Amarnauth Singh, who performed the procedure on Joella.
Heart rhythm problems, called arrhythmias, are common. The American Heart Association estimates as many as 2 million Americans are living with atrial fibrillation, which is just one type of heartbeat malfunction.
With the North Valley’s burgeoning population, there is a significant and ever-growing need for EP studies. However, very few hospitals in the area are equipped with the technology necessary for an EP lab.
Now, with new Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories at both John C. Lincoln Hospitals equipped to do EP studies, Joella and others with heart rhythm problems no longer have to suffer.
There is a huge need for it, and the John C. Lincoln Hospitals thankfully did something about it,” Dr. Singh says.
How EP Studies Are Performed
During an EP study, a catheter is inserted into a vein and guided to the heart to measure its electrical activity. In many cases, when the problem area is identified, a technique called an ablation can use the heat to destroy the precise area responsible for triggering the rapid heart rate, without damaging any other part of the heart.
The EP labs include sophisticated technology that enables physicians to create three-dimensional heartbeat mapping, which allows them to pinpoint with a great degree of accuracy where the rhythm problem is.
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| An EP study usually takes 60 to 90 minutes to complete. An ablation requires an additional 60 to 90 minutes. Because it is a minimally invasive procedure, most patients who have an EP study are able to go home that day or the next, even if an ablation is part of their treatment. | |
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”The amazing thing about an EP study is not only can you make a diagnosis, but in many ways you can treat it right them an there by performing an ablation, closing off dead tissue or putting in a pacemaker or defibrillator,” explains Dr. Singh. This eliminates the need for a second procedure.
An EP study usually takes 60 to 90 minutes, and an ablation adds another 60 or 90 minutes to the procedure. Because it is a minimally invasive procedure, most patients who have an EP study are able to go home that same day or the next, even if an ablation is done.
Past Medications Only Partially Helped
In Joella’s case, it wasn’t until her late 20s when she learned, almost by accident, that her condition could be treated. She had taken her 2-year-old to the pediatrician when the doctor noticed a vein pulsing in Joella’s neck.
“Don’t you know you can treat that?” the physician asked. He sent her to a cardiologist, who diagnosed paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, a period of abnormally rapid heartbeats that begins and ends abruptly.
The doctor prescribed medication, which only partially helped. “The medicines curbed it a little, but it didn’t go away,” Joella says. “I never was free of it.”
Many patients who take medications to treat heart rhythm problems experience severe side effects that make the drugs difficult to live with.
Though the side effects Joella endured weren’t as bad as some people’s, the arrhythmia still affected her day-to-day life. There were times when the episodes came and went many times throughout the day.
”I would be exhausted,” she recalls. And those days seemed to come at the most inconvenient times. “The day I said I’d take care of all seven grandkids—that was the day my heart would start flip-flopping.”
Her daughter Janice recalls the fear of seeing her mother mid-episode: “She had them all my life, but you couldn’t get used to it. I remember being afraid to leave her alone.”
Dr. Singh Leads the Way
Dr. Singh told Joella that he would not have recommended an EP study 10 years earlier. Yet, with new, state-of-the-art equipment at John C. Lincoln, he gave her procedure a 98 percent chance of success. Still friends and relatives advised against it.
”If it were me, I would just stay on the meds,” one told her. “I wouldn’t go messing with the heart.”
But Dr. Singh’s unmasked enthusiasm went a long way in convincing her.
”He was so excited about this new equipment,” Joella says. “He was so sure that this was the right procedure for me.”
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| Joella with granddaughters Emily and Katie: When Grandma feels better, everyone has reason to smile. | |
When she arrived at John C. Lincoln Hospital Deer Valley for the EP study, it was with complete confidence.
Her confidence was affirmed just a couple of hours later, when the procedure was successfully completed and Dr. Singh pronounced her cured.
For Joella, there are no more pills—or their side effects—and no more apprehension about episode-filled days that keep her from the activities she enjoys.
Not long after the procedure, she stepped onto a treadmill at her daughter’s house and “realized for the first time I didn’t have to worry about how fast my heart was beating. It’s not something I have to think about constantly now.
”I feel amazing!” she says. “It’s a new lease on life.”