is wpw hereditary?

wiater · Newbie Joined: 17 Mar 2005 Posts: 16

Hello. I'm 24 year old young mother and I'm really worried for my little daughter. She is only seven months old and just recently her podiatrist has determined that she has some heart beat irregularity.
After EKG test, he diagnosed her with some syndrome called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.
He didn’t explain me anything about this syndrome but, if I understood right, it has something to do with her electric signals on heart.
He also prescribed her some medications and told me that everything will be ok. I feel like I'm not being told quite everything about this. I also interested is this condition hereditary, because my husband has also some heart problems. Anyone has more information about this?

luedecke · Newbie Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 14

Hello. I'm very sorry about your little daughter. She really didn’t deserve to be sick that young. I will tell you some crucial facts about this syndrome.
Like you already said, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome is a congenital heart problem that affects the heart’s electrical system. The electric impulse doesn’t follow the normal path from atria to ventricles but goes in one circuit around the heart. Sometimes, it causes no symptoms but sometimes it’s causing heart beat irregularity called supraventricular tachycardia.
For your information WPW is not usually hereditary and it is not usually passed from parents to children.

emjayball · Newbie Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 3

Hi, I had WPW from 18 to 30 years old but was misdiagnosed. Found out it was WPW and had an operation ( an ablation- where they insert a tube into your heart and burn away the extra electrical pathway) which is not as dramtic as it sounds.
It may be that medication wiil relieve symptoms but my understanding is they won't cure it. I don't really know about WPW in children, but i think it's possible to grow out of it.

From my experience the op wasn't too bad and I was completely cured of any symptoms. My bpm was recorded at over 220 before the op, now i never have a problem even during vigorous exercise.

hope this puts your mind at ease a bit

Guest · Guest

Hello, I know your post is 2 yrs old, but I do have alot of knowledge regarding WPW. This disease is not well known and many practitioners do NOT know alot about it.

I can speak to you from experience; being a member of a family where a diagnosis of WPW could have saved many males lives. Every males on my fathers side, including himself, has died before the age of 50. My Father was only 47. It cannot be proven for most, but it has been proven for a few that the diagnosis was indeed WPW. If this knowledge and know how had of been available years ago - who knows how many would still be alive. But everyone died of rapid heart rate : tachycardia.

It is mostly common in the male species and is always a defect that they are born with. It is not from an injury or something that has grown or a disease that has generated in later life. Unfortunatley this is a congenital abnormality (present at birth) involving the heart's electrical system. Most people with WPW syndrome lead normal lives. Many have no symptoms and have no episodes of tachycardia. Normally, electrical signals in the heart go through the atrioventricular (AV) node, the pathway connecting the two top chambers of the heart (atria) to the two bottom chambers (ventricles).

In people with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, there is an extra, or accessory, AV pathway. This leads to "re-entry supraventricular tachycardia," a rapid heart rate initiated above the ventricles.

The location of the extra electrical pathway in Wolff-Parkinson-White can often be precisely identified. Wolff-Parkinson-White is one of the most common causes of fast heart rate disorders (tachyarrhymthmias) in infants and children.

In some people, WPW syndrome can cause rapid heartbeats (paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia), with heart rates rising up to 240 beats per minute (The normal rate is 60 to 80 beats per minute). Other symptoms include palpitations, shortness of breath, fainting and possibly angina (chest pain). While the condition is present at birth, these type of symptoms are more likely to appear in adults. WPW is usually diagnosed in adolescence or early adulthood.

Researching WPW and being in contact with the founders of the disease, has brought alot of evidence that it indeed IS HEREDITARY !!!
Where I live in Toronto, Ontario CANADA, there is a research Hospital that deals with such disorders as WPW. My youngest son was diagnosed 6 yrs ago (@ 25)when his heart just about blew out of his chest while lifting weights. Gasping for breath, holding his chest he passed out. His heart rate was way too high and he was rushed to emerg. You could literally see his his chest jumping up and down over his heart area. His heart rate taken by the EMT was over 300 b.p.m ~ he is lucky to be alive.
He has had 2 abilations and still suffers from WPW. This extra pathway is extremely hard to find in some patients. It is common for Surgeons not to be able to find this area during the surgery or abilation. It was explained to me by a Cardialogist like this ..it is as if it pulls back inside and becomes unnoticeable or hidden.
Blood should pump into the heart, be refreshed and re-oxygenated then pumped back out into the body. In WPW, this extra pathway take the blood into it, forcing the blood to basically return for re-oxygenation. So the blood 'volleys' back and forth not leaving the heart. This causing the heart rate to increase to try and perform its job and it beats faster and faster.
> WPW as a whole is still being studied and experimented with. So keep yourself up to date with your Cardiologist OR/ even better, use the WPW home website.
>> I hope this help, please remember, WPW can be cured and it is operable. BEST WISHES AND GOOD LUCK

Guest · Guest

WPW can be hereditary if the child develops the gene from the affected parent!!! My daughter passed away from WPW and her father also has WPW as well.

Guest · Guest

is wpw hereditary?

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