Kyle Chalmers heart condition: What is Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT)

OLYMPIC star Kyle Chalmers is set to miss the world championships to undergo heart surgery. But just what is wrong with Chalmers’ heart and what are his chances of a full recovery?

• Chalmers to undergo heart surgery
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OLYMPIC star Kyle Chalmers is set to miss the world championships to undergo heart surgery. But just what is wrong with Chalmers’ heart and what are his chances of a full recovery?

The Medical Journal of Australia lists SVT as a “common” cardiac rhythm disturbance, affecting the upper chambers of the heart.

The symptoms are often described as a “racing heart”, with heartbeats measured above 200 beats per minute.

The corrective surgery Chalmers is scheduled to undergo is known as an ablation procedure. It involves scarring small areas in the heart that can prevent abnormal electrical signals that cause the rhythm disturbance.

Elite athletes known to have had successful surgery to treat SVT including Australia’s 2012 Olympic bronze medal-winning triathlete Erin Densham.

Australian Olympic bronze medallist triathlete Erin Densham.

Densham had the ablation procedure in December, 2009, after an episode of arrhythmia that forced her rescue from the water during a triathlon in the United States.

Another New Zealand triathlete, Samantha Warriner, had the same surgery aged 39 and, just three months later, won a race at the Ironman New Zealand.

Here’s what the Medical Journal of Australia says about SVT:

* It is a common cardiac rhythm disturbance which usually presents itself as recurrent episodes of tachycardia, which often increase in frequency and severity with time.

* Although SVT is usually not life-threatening, many patients suffer recurrent symptoms that have a major impact on their quality of life. The uncertain and sporadic nature of episodes of tachycardia can cause considerable anxiety - many patients curtail their lifestyle as a result, and many prefer curative treatment.

* The symptoms of SVT are often erroneously attributed to anxiety.

* Sudden-onset, rapid, regular heart palpitations characterise SVT and, in most patients, a diagnosis can be made with a high degree of certainty from patient history alone.

* Treatment of SVT may not be necessary when the episodes are infrequent and self-terminating, and produce minimal symptoms.

* When episodes of tachycardia occur frequently, are prolonged or are associated with symptoms that affect quality of life, catheter ablation is the first choice of treatment; it is a low-risk procedure with a high success rate. Long-term preventive pharmacotherapy is an alternative approach in some patients.

Originally published as Kyle Chalmers heart condition: What is Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT)