Imagine your heart is racing, you are getting lightheaded and dizzy, and this is all happening not while you are climbing the first peak of a roller coaster, but while sitting on the couch watching a new episode of your favorite TV show.
Hello, I’m Dr. Brooke Hildebrand Clubbs, Instructor of Health Communication at Southeast Missouri State University. This is the experience described by one of my students who, after many years of not knowing what was going on with her heart, was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.
This is a rare heart condition caused by an abnormal gene that affects up to three in 1,000 people worldwide according to a recent statistic in the journal, Pulse. People with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome are born with an additional electrical conduction pathway between the atria and the ventricles. The Cleveland Clinic says that some cases can be passed on by parents who have these extra pathways. The condition can be detected by an electrocardiogram or by a Holter monitor that is worn by the patient daily to record heart functions.
According to Mayo Clinic, the episodes of fast heartbeats, or tachycardia, usually aren’t life-threatening, but serious heart problems can occur. Treatment can stop or prevent episodes of tachycardia. The best way to permanently correct symptoms of this condition is to have a catheter-based procedure called an ablation. Although Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome is rarely fatal, it can be very frustrating being on the roller coaster until diagnosis. However, since her ablation procedure, my student has been symptom free.
Content for this segment was created by Rachel Tomasino as part of a project for SC301: Foundations of Health Communication, taught by Dr. Clubbs. Rachel is a Corporate Communication major and Fashion and Consumer Studies minor who will be graduating from Southeast in May 2021. Her future plans include going into the medical device sales industry, inspired by her years of heart troubles and the different devices used to catch her Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.
Resources:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17643-wolff-parkinson-white-syndrome-wpw
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/wolff-parkinson-white-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20354626
Tulloh, L., & Tulloh, R. (2020). Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Pulse, 36.
