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The heart is one of the most important organs in the body. It helps supply every cell in the body with the oxygen they need to function. It’s so important that if it ever stops beating, you can die within a few minutes. In fact, heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States. The CDC estimates that in 2017, 1 in 3 deaths was the direct result of heart problems.
There are a lot of things you can do to reduce your risk of death from heart disease, but there are some conditions that you can contribute to heart problems that you really can’t do much about. That includes conditions like Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW). So what is Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome? And what can be done to treat it?
What Is Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome?
Your heart is basically a pump that moves blood around the body. It’s made up of four chambers that contract, pulling in blood and sending it back out into the body. These contractions are controlled by electrical signals from a small area of in the upper right atrium of the heart called the sinus node.
The electrical signals move across the tissue of the heart and to another area called the atrioventricular node. From there, they spread out across the heart and trigger the contractions that make your heart function. For your heart to work correctly, this process of contractions needs to be timed in a very particular way. There has to be a slight delay so that the heart has time to fill with blood before it contracts again and pumps the blood back out into the body.
That is why the system of electrical impulses is so important. It controls the timing of the contractions.
However, when you have Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, you develop an extra electrical pathway in the heart. This interferes with the normal functioning of the heart and produces a number of different symptoms, like:
- Chest Pain
- Tightness in the Chest
- Difficulty Breathing
- Fainting Spells
- Anxiety
- Fatigue
In addition, the condition usually causes a rapid heartbeat as the extra electrical signals through the heart trigger contractions too rapidly. These rapid contractions prevent the heart from pumping out enough blood. That means that you can’t get enough oxygen to your cells, which is the cause of most of the symptoms.
We aren’t sure what causes WPW, but in some cases, there seems to be a genetic link. And doctors have identified a gene that causes the condition. But only a small percentage of people with the condition have that gene. So, the cause for the rest of the people with the condition is still a bit of a mystery.
The good news is that WPW isn’t usually a life-threatening condition. Usually, people don’t even notice physical symptoms until their late 20’s, though they’ve had the extra electrical pathway since birth. If you have WPW but no physical symptoms, treatment usually isn’t necessary. But if you’re experiencing frequent episodes of a rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, or chest pain, then you should seek a doctor’s advice.
How Is It Treated?
Doctors usually diagnose WPW with a device called an electrocardiogram or ECG. An ECG measures the electrical signals in your heart, and doctors can use it to detect any irregular signals that might suggest a patient has WPW.
Once you’ve been diagnosed, the first step in treatment is correcting the rapid heartbeat that causes most of the symptoms. Doctors use a few different methods to do so, including:
- Vagal Maneuvers: The nerves that control the electrical signals in the heart are closely linked to something called the Vagus Nerve. And you can actually affect the performance of these nerves by performing a number of physical movements. Your doctor can suggest a few different techniques that can actually help slow your heart rate by manipulating this nerve.
- Medication: One of the most common treatments for WPW is an injection of anti-arrhythmic drugs. These drugs help regulate your heart rate and prevent symptoms.
- Cardioversion: If these techniques aren’t effective, doctors can use paddles or patches that shock the heart and reset the pattern of electrical signals.
- Catheter Ablation: This technique involves inserting long tubes, or catheters, into the blood vessels leading to the heart. These catheters have electrical nodes on the ends that a doctor can heat up and use to actually destroy the tissue that causes the extra electrical pathway. This therapy has the potential to totally cure the condition.
The important thing is to get treatment. Keeping your heart healthy is vital to living a long, productive life. And while WPW isn’t usually dangerous, it can lead to serious complications.
So, have you struggled with WPW? What did you do to treat it? Let us know in the comments.
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