For Christmas his daughter bought him a heart rate monitor to help him improve his training, but strangely, the device sometimes showed heart rates between 225 and 235 beats per minute when his jogging rate should be around 140. Allanach sent the monitor back to the company for repair, but they found nothing wrong.

In the meantime, his bad runs were happening more frequently, and he began to notice a momentary pressure in his chest on those days when he was not running as well. When Allanach got contact lenses he was able to connect the problem with the heart monitor and his runs. Finally, he could read the heart monitor during his run, and he saw that his heart rate spiked when he got the pressure sensation in his chest. He consulted his physician and was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation is found in about 2.2 million Americans, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). It is a type of irregular heartbeat in which the two small upper heart chambers quiver rapidly rather than pumping effectively. The irregular beat happens sporadically and usually subsides after a few minutes, so the problem can be difficult to diagnose.

“People usually think that heart disease strikes those who are sedentary and unhealthy. In fact, atrial fibrillation can develop for no apparent reason in someone who is in the prime of life,’ said Albert Lin, M.D., director of the electrophysiology laboratory at Loyola University Health System (Loyola).

The racing heartbeat from atrial fibrillation is not usually life threatening in itself, but it can increase a person´s risk of stroke, Lin noted. When blood is not pumped efficiently out of the heart´s upper chambers (called the atria) it may pool and form clots. A blood clot could leave the heart and become lodged in an artery in the brain. About 15 percent of strokes are attributed to atrial fibrillation, according to the AHA.

Several treatment options are available for atrial fibrillation including medications, cardiac pacemakers or a newer procedure called radiofrequency catheter ablation. The procedure is minimally invasive and performed on an outpatient basis. The physician guides a thin flexible tube through the patient´s blood vessels and into the heart. The faulty electrical signals that trigger atrial fibrillation come from the pulmonary veins, which drain blood from the lungs back to the heart. The procedure targets these veins and isolates them electrically with radiofrequency energy thereby preventing them from initiating atrial fibrillation.

Cardiac electrophysiologists at Loyola have performed more than 300 radiofrequency catheter ablation procedures and achieved an overall cure rate of approximately 80 percent. Lin expects that figure to rise as technologies evolve. The other 20 percent of patients may require a repeat procedure to achieve a cure or can consider other treatment options.

“The most important aspect in the treatment of atrial fibrillation is tailoring the therapeutic options to the individual patient´s needs,’ Lin said.

Loyola was one of the first health centers in the Chicago area to offer radiofrequency ablation therapy for atrial fibrillation and still performs more than any other health center in the Chicago area.

“Dr. Lin spent quite a bit of time with me explaining my options,’ Allanach said. Considering the pattern of his atrial fibrillation, he was a good candidate for radiofrequency ablation. Allanach had the procedure in August 2003 and has been essentially cured of the atrial fibrillation. He ran in the Chicago marathon last fall and plans to run in the Boston Marathon in April. “I am really thankful because running has been a significant part of my life for 30 years.
I felt like I would have to give it up. Now I´m running as well as I was before it happened.’

For more information about electrophysiology or to make an appointment with a specialist at Loyola, call (708) 216-8563.

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