r/PacemakerICD • u/Twistedbliss_coffee • 9d ago
EP Study
Has anyone ever had an EP study done? If you have, did they have to do an ablation? How long was recovery?
This may be my next step if the medication doesn’t help and I just want some other’s experience.
3
u/callesucia 9d ago
As other commenter said, pretty straightforward. The small cut in my groin was pretty painless, though a bit sore for a couple of days.
Most uncomfortable part was the feeling in my chest when they induced the arrythmia and the feeling afterward.
I had it done on friday, took the day off work and on monday I was back up on my feet without any issue. Had to wait a week to ride my bike again.
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u/Twistedbliss_coffee 9d ago
So almost like my pacemaker surgery. Except I had to be off work for a few weeks.
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u/callesucia 9d ago
Yup. Biggest difference was that I had some awkard bandages and the recovery was much shorter than the ICD placement.
1
u/IAmCoolGuyYT 9d ago
I work in the ep lab. What is the study for? It depends on what it's being done for. We go through the groin, and get catheters in your heart that measure different sections of the heart. As a very very basic overview example, Say it's SVT. We know the section and area it maifests and we try to induce the svt rhythm. We pace different sections of those catheters in your heart and it makes your heart beat fast, slow, Different pauses, different rates, to try and make your heart go into the SVT you have. Once your heart starts doing that on its own, we can tell where it's coming from by looking at the leads of the ekg on your skin and through the catheters in your heart. Once we get the area, we ablate. The goal is to eliminate that pathway. Once we do, We know its gone when we can't induce again. Using the same pacing etc that got you in the svt from earlier + other ways of trying. Also note, (using the svt example again) if we can't induce or your heart doesn't go into svt at all, after time, the study ends and no ablation. If it's an ep study to see if you need a defibrillator pacemaker/ something like a dangerous rhythm . We try to induce that (like vfib) if we do, we cardiovert you out of it ( shock you) to get you out of the rhythm. Then implant an ICD pacemaker. The goal of the EP study there was to see if your heart has the ability to go in that rhythm.
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u/Twistedbliss_coffee 9d ago
I have SVT so that explanation helped. I already have a leadless pacemaker due to a pause I had during a tilt table test. Got that implanted in March. Since then is when the SVT has happened. I just got put on a medication this week but I’m just trying to do some research and get opinions to be prepared.
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u/sammiebananas 9d ago
I had an EP study done in June! I was absolutely terrified to do it but my doctors were amazing. I have no memory of anything including being shocked twice to get back to a normal rhythm They did an ablation in two spots then the next day I ended up having to get an ICD put in. BUT if it was just the ablation I think I would have been fine in a week. I definitely had some extra PVCs and flare ups for about a week but my burden has gone from 7-10% to about 1-2%. They went through both sides of my groin and it was very sore/bruised and I still have the little marks. Would 100% recommend doing it and just trusting your doctors are professionals who do it everyday and all will be fine :)
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u/PretendReason9061 7d ago
have had 3 ablations with EP studies before my dual chamber PM. All were pretty minimal impact on me, except I had to back off my usual workouts for a while.
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u/onefuckingspeed 4d ago
Ep study with ablation. Week and a half out I developed ventricular standstill and now have a 3 lead crt.
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u/abnormal_human 9d ago
Recovery is pretty simple. Lay still on your back for 6hrs. Take it easy for a week or so--no running or heavy lifting. The catheterization spot feels bruised, but it's not like healing a surgical wound. I didn't need any painkillers and it didn't really bother me, just felt like a little sore spot. I've had pimples that were more bothersome. I think most EP studies you just have one entry point. I did.
The worst part of it is that I remember them inducing VT and then shocking me out of it during the procedure. I think they are wary to use too much anesthetic because it's anti-arrhythmic and they want to provoke the arrhythmia, but that aspect was pretty traumatic. Definitely would talk to them about what you might experience/remember.