AV Node Issues and AVR

[Peter Jay]

Hi everyone, not sure how I didn't find this site sooner, but I am really excited to join. I received a St. Jude's Mechanical Aortic Valve 12 years ago
at age 34. Not sure when it first started, but about 3 and a half years ago, my symptoms of ventricular tachycardia were bad enough that I got a Medtronic ICD installed for protection. To treat the symptoms, I started on beta-blockers which I did not tolerate well. I switched to verapamil, but I have been experiencing arrhythmia frequently, and my cardiologist put me back on a combination of betas and verapamil. When I presented with VTach, the electrophysiologist ruled out an ablation due to the obstruction caused by my valve. Curious to know if others have experienced the combination of having an AVR and Vtach and how you have dealt with it. Are there any other ways to treat it surgically? Other medications?

Thanks!
Peter

 

[AgilityDog]

MVR, simultaneous maze procedure (large scale ablation during OHS) for a-fib; later AVR and Vtach.
I take sotalol (a type of beta blocker) for the v-tach, and it stays well under control.

I did not know they used ablation for the v-tach - just for the a-fib.

 

[epstns]

I had more the opposite - pre-surgical bradycardia, then after surgery I had bradycardia, tachycardia, afib and long (20-25 second) pauses. I ended up with a pacemaker to control the bradycardia and pauses. I think I grew out of afib as healing progressed, but I'm still taking beta blocker (metoprolol), but at a lower dosage than before.