anybody familiar with SVT?

kittyroo · 10-02-2007, 06:19 PM

Howdy,

My 15 day old son was diagnosed with SVT on his 8th day of life. When we arrived at the ICU his heart rate was in the 240s-270s. Now on our 7th day in Children's hospital ICU, they have him mostly controlled with Enderol and Flecainide. My feeling is that he is awfully little to have had all the drugs he has had pumped into him in the last week. Anybody have any experience with this? They assure me that this will be just a blip on the radar before long and to just get a grip for crying out loud, its not life threatning.....but when its your newborn child its hard to see the bigger picture.

Does anyone have any input or thoughts on this? Anything would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!

sam78 · 10-04-2007, 03:50 AM

Kitty, told to get a grip huh?? Well you know what I would tell those doctors is , ohh never mind i dont want to get banned from this site.

SVT in newborns is serious. Undiagnosed SVT in newborns can lead to poor blood flow to organs causing organ damage as well as heart failure. The hard part about treating SVT in a newborn is that there are not many options. There are only a few places in the US that are willing to even attempt an ablation (where they go in and burn the pathway in a heart cath)in a newborn, mostly because the catheters are too big, but it can be done. Sometimes kids grow out of this as well, so if you can get them to grow, with time it may go away. At this point I know that it doesnt seem right to pump your baby full of medications but its better than organ damage or heart failure down the road. Hang in there, and DEMAND to go see a pediatric electrophysiologist. You may not have one where you live, it may require a trip somewhere, but they are out there as I have met one personally in my small town. And just so you know, I am on flecainide as well, and inderal is a very commonly used drugs in infants to lower heart rate. Hang in there, and let me know if you have any questions, I am quite knowledgable in this area.

kittyroo · 10-05-2007, 10:53 AM

Oh, man am I glad you answered!!! We just got home from 10 days in the pediatric ICU at Children's Hospital. They are really good in my town. Also, the doc that is treating him is a pediatric cardiac electrophysiologist. I looked him up online extensively and it turns out that this doc is quite the pioneer in the field. SVT is one of his specialties. He prefers not to do the ablation in babies, but to treat it medicinally until they are older and if its still an issue at that time, then consider it. I just hope like hell that my son grows out of this. Our new lives now revolve around his medication schedule!

So here is what they did in the hospital:

--Esmolol drip for 7 or 8 days
--Inderol four times a day
--amnioderone twice a day.

These measures were not controlling it and he was having to be converted via adenosine several times a day and night. At that point the doc was forced to break out the flecainide to control it. He didn't want to, he felt the more benign drugs were the way to go, but apparently my son has a stubborn case of SVT. After they started the flecainide, they weaned him off the drip and off the amnioderone. So now its just the Inderol and flecainide. He gets 2 mils of flecainide twice daily and 1 mil of Inderol every 6 hours.

So, would you mind terribly if I asked.....do YOU have SVT? If so, how long have you had it? Would you tell me a little about how you came to know so much about it?? Thank you so much for answering my initial question!! I feel better knowing I am not alone!

sam78 · 10-06-2007, 12:38 AM

kitty, well glad to hear you all are home now. Unfortunately this site prohibits me from telling you why I know so much about it. If you really want to learn some about SVT, search it on the internet, but be sure to search it regarding newborn SVT because there are many differences in treatment with newborns than adults. It is sooooo good to hear you have a pediatric EP doctor there. That is so key to treatment and unnecessary procedures. I do also have SVT as well as an atrial tachycardia. Very very stubborn. I've tried many drugs and always end up back on the flecainide. It is sooooo good also to hear that your baby is off amiodarone. That drug has horrible side affects, mostly severs fibrosis of the lungs. Thankfully your baby didnt have it long enough to cause that. In my experience, babies that develope SVT right after birth tend to have stubborn cases of SVT, but its been my experience that a lot of them grow out of it, thankfully. I have had an ablation that was unsuccessful, but I am glad I tried it because at least now we know specifically what we are dealing with. And also I am glad I tried it to see if I could get off my drugs, even though it proved I couldnt. They are coming up with a lot of new medications to deal with arrhythmias like SVT. I understand how hard it is to deal with your babys medications, but as you start to feel comfortable with having a new baby and his medications, it will come second nature to you and you wont feel so restricted by them. I will keep checking back, if you have any other questions feel free to ask away.