Doctors at a city hospital found an electrical wire in the heart of a nurse who has been living with it since her birth, the hospital said in a statement Thursday.
Four months ago, Rakhi's health started deteriorating and she would start perspiring and experience a sense of constant fatigue. She also felt increasingly dizzy and weak and had to sit down every time she felt giddy.
It was only after she underwent an Electrophysiology (EP) test at Max Hospital that it was revealed that there was an electrical wire in Rakhi's heart which had existed since her birth and was causing the drastic increase in her heartbeat.
Electrophysiology (EP) - which helped detect her condition - is a test that records the electrical activity and the electrical pathways of one's heart. This test is used to help determine the cause of one's heart rhythm disturbance and the best treatment for the patient, the Max Super Speciality Hospital said in a statement Thursday.
After a 45-minute successful procedure of 'Electrophysiological study and Radiofrequency Ablation', Rakhi was relieved of her pain and panic attacks, and was back at work the very next day. The wire, however, could not be removed from inside the heart as it would put her life in greater danger, the hospital said.
Radiofrequency catheter ablation is a procedure that is performed to correct a disturbance in the heart rhythm. The procedure can address many types of fast heart beats.
According to the hospital, Rakhi's case highlights the common error made by patients of mistaking dizziness, restlessness, palpitations and fatigue as stress induced panic attacks.