Overview Of Electrophysiology Testing

Electrophysiology (EP) testing is also an invasive procedure used to find an in-depth look at the heart's electrical activity. EP testing is required if your heart doesn't beat normally. An abnormal heartbeat is known as an arrhythmia.

An Electrophysiologist study can be utilized to:

• Ascertain in which the heart's electrical system is ruined.
• Safely replicate your abnormal heartbeat through electric stimulation and provide you medicines during the evaluation to ascertain that work best to control your pulse.
• Determine the most appropriate course of therapy.

This information supply by electrodes directed to the heart. Electrodes detect electric signals going through the center and deliver these signals to a computer that measures and records the heart's electrical function. The test could detect a possibly life-threatening arrhythmia.

If you're on medication to stop arrhythmias, the evaluation can reveal whether the treatment is working.

Why It's Done

Abnormal signaling can happen anywhere along with the electric system.

Electrophysiology testing could be performed for the following reasons:

• To find out the seriousness of the arrhythmia and the best way to take care of it. As an instance, a life-threatening arrhythmia may lead to sudden cardiac arrest.
• To do catheter ablation, a procedure to deal with specific kinds of arrhythmia. Thin cables are directing to the heart, and energy is routed through the cables to ruin areas of heart tissue in which the arrhythmia begins.

The Way to Prepare

A specific preparation is necessary before an EP study. Steps to consider before an EP research comprise:

• Acquire blood tests and electrocardiography (ECG/EKG) 1 to 3 times ahead of the process. Don't swallow water when brushing your teeth and require only tiny sips of water if you have to take drugs.
• Inform us of all prescription and nonprescription medicines you require. We might request that you stop taking certain drugs 1 to 5 times before the exam. When you have diabetes, then we'll explain to you just how you can correct your diabetes medicine. Take all medications as normal unless we inform you differently.
• Bring a 1-day source of your medicines to the hospital.
• Inform us if you're allergic to any foods or drugs.
• Empty your bladder before the procedure.
• Inform us if you're pregnant or could be pregnant.

What to Expect

Knowing what to expect during an EP study will make you comfortable with the process. Below is the normal procedure of an EP study.

• You may visit the admitting office to be admitted for the process.
• Then you will be taken to the Cardiac Procedure Unit (CPU) in which you satisfy with the physician assistant and process doctor who'll explain the process to you in detail. Once you sign the approval form, you're taken into a special room called the EP laboratory, and that's where the exam will happen. Medications and fluids can be given through the IV through the process.
• Your groin is shaved and washed with soap. Also, we track the oxygen level in your bloodstream using an oximeter, a little device clipped in your finger.
• A sizable defibrillator pad is put on your torso and the other is set on your spine. These pads are attached to an external cardiac defibrillator, which can be used simply to restrain a harmful heart rhythm that can't be corrected with drugs or electric pacing wires put in the heart. Defibrillation is seldom required during an EP study. When a shock is necessary, we put one to sleep.
• You get sedative medication that will assist you to unwind, even though you stay awake during the exam.
• As you lie on a desk, your butt is numbed. The X-ray pictures are accessed from a massive X-ray machine, called a fluoroscope, positioned on you.
• The catheters are transferred around the heart to look at the heart's electrical activity.
• Little electrical impulses are delivered to the center through a catheter to improve the heartbeat and replicate an abnormal heartbeat. This makes it possible for us to see where the arrhythmia is beginning in the center or what's causing the abnormal heartbeat. You will feel your heartbeat stronger or quicker during that time.
• When an arrhythmia happens that is receptive to ablation, we will map the circuit that's causing the arrhythmia and carry out an ablation. Ablation is a treatment that uses a heating system to destroy a tiny region of the abnormal circuit that's causing the arrhythmia. If a possibly dangerous rhythm happens, then we'll cancel an ICD. EP testing continues for about one hour. But in the event the ablation or ICD implantation is completed in precisely the same period, then the whole process can take around two to four hours.
• Then, the catheters are removed, and we apply pressure on the groin to avoid bleeding. You have to maintain your leg as still as you can for 4 to 6 hours to prevent bleeding.

EP testing is completed on an outpatient basis, which means you'll be going home on precisely the same day. But, based upon the process, you might have to remain in the hospital immediately. Pack an overnight bag in case. You may resume your regular activities a couple of days following the exam. We advise you don't exercise or lift anything over 10 pounds approximately five times.

Outcomes

Electrophysiology testing lets us ascertain the kind of arrhythmia you've got and its specific location. According to this advice, we could determine the best alternatives for treatment.

The arrhythmia can be slow or quick. An abnormal EP research effect could be brought on by:

Atrial flutter. Both upper chambers of your heart called the atria, conquer quickly and irregularly. This prevents sufficient blood from moving to the lower heart chambers (the ventricles), which pump out blood into the body. The top chambers of the heartbeat fast but often, unlike atrial fibrillation. Atrial flutter may also raise the chance of stroke. 

Heart Block: The electric impulse is slowed or slowed because it travels out of the upper chambers of the heart into the lower chambers. 

Sick sinus syndrome The heartbeat slows down because the electrical signals don't fire normally. The center can also alternate between a slow pace and a quick speed. 

Supraventricular tachycardia. This rapid heartbeat starts and ends fast. It's due to an extra electrical pathway in the center, which typically happens with a high adrenaline condition. Adrenaline is a hormone that's a portion of the individual body's intense stress reaction system, also referred to as the"fight or flight" reaction. Supraventricular tachycardia may also occur in the rest. 

Ventricular arrhythmias Ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia begin from the ventricles. Ventricular tachycardia is a quick, regular beat. Ventricular fibrillation is a dangerous arrhythmia where cluttered electrical signals cause the heart to quiver. This may result in sudden cardiac death when the center isn't immediately shocked back into its normal beat. 

Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome An excess pathway connecting the atria into the ventricles causes the heart to beat quickly because the timing of electrical signals throughout the excess pathway is extremely fast.

According to the results, we might perform additional evaluations or talk about therapy options to control your arrhythmia. By way of instance, a permanent pacemaker or ICD can assist your heart keep a constant beat. For some kinds of arrhythmia, catheter ablation performed through an EP study can heal an arrhythmia.

Hazards

On the other hand, the process is invasive and consequently carries a little prospect of particular dangers.

We take action to decrease those dangers. But we'll talk to you about the dangers and advantages of EP testing ahead according to your particular circumstance.