Results of Septal Myectomy

[Michelle]

I have constant palpitations even on my beta blocker and was wondering whether some of you who have had the same symptoms found relief after septal myectomy.

[Sarah]

Dear Michelle,

It is my understanding that the myectomy's purpose is to relieve the obstruction. Elminiating the obstruction improves your heart function and will make you feel better in general.

However, arrhythmias are not caused by obstruction, so they are not going to be reduced by a myectomy as a rule. Since the heart isn't working so hard, they may go down a lot, but the heart muscle itself is still not normal (can't fix that yet) so arrhythmias are only going to be controled with medication.

There are stronger anti-arrhythmia medications besides beta-blockers that are very good. You should talk to your doctor about them. The biggies are Norpace, Betapace, and Cordarone (disopyramide, sotalol, amiodarone) and there is a newer one called Tikosyn (dofetilide).

let us know how you are doing,

S

[Robert Hartwell]

Michelle,

Sarah is spot on with her comments. Arrythmias are caused by different issues within the heart. Myectomy will not cure this.

Bob

[Lisa Salberg]

You will want to discuss you symptoms with your doc. The Myectomy (nor any other type of septal reduction) will stop these symptoms. You may need to adjust your meds. I found that adding a Calcium channel blocker to my beta blocker...really reduced my palpitations.

Best wishes,
Lisa