Electrophysiology Study

What to expect at an electrophysiology study?

Your child's pediatric cardiologist may recommend a cardiac electrophysiology study to get more detailed information about your child's heart rhythm or to diagnose and treat an abnormal heart rhythm. All of these studies are performed with a pediatric anesthesiologist, and the child is asleep throughout the entire procedure. Some electrophysiology studies can be performed via a small soft tube placed through the child's mouth into the esophagus. However, most electrophysiology studies are performed by placing small catheters (soft tubes) into the blood vessels in order to evaluate the heart's electrical activity in detail. Sometimes when the study diagnoses a heart rhythm problem, the arrhythmia can also be treated in the same procedure by burning or freezing an abnormal electrical pathway in the heart, which is known as an ablation. We typically schedule the procedure within one to two months of the doctor's request.

You and your child will be required to come in for testing about one week before the procedure. You and your child will meet with the electrophysiologist who will be performing this procedure. He/she will explain the procedure in detail, answer all of your questions and obtain your permission for the procedure.

Your child will be examined by the doctor and have multiple tests that day, which will include blood work, a chest radiograph (x-ray), an electrocardiogram and other tests needed before the procedure. A nurse will give you instructions for the day of the procedure. Please anticipate spending about four hours in our office on this day so our staff may provide you with all the information and conduct all of the necessary testing to give your child the best care possible.

On the day of the test, you will bring your child to Cohen Children’s Medical Center and follow the instructions you were given about when your child may last eat prior to the scheduled procedure. Upon arrival, you will take your child to the admitting office, and their staff will accompany your family to the Ambulatory Surgical Unit (ASU), where a nurse will briefly review some history and examine your child. You will meet the anesthesiologist who will be sedating your child for the procedure. If your child is anxious, the anesthesiologist may give him/her some medicine. Your child will be asleep throughout the entire procedure. Once he/she is awake, you will meet your child in the recovery room. Depending on the procedure your child is having, he/she may be required to stay in the hospital for a few hours or overnight. Additional testing may be required after the procedure at the request of your child's cardiologist, including a chest x-ray, an electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram and/or other studies.

Please arrive at the scheduled time, and anticipate spending all day (and possibly overnight) in the hospital to allow our staff to provide your child with optimal care before and after the procedure.