Imagine your heart is like an electrical pump. Electrical impulses travel steadily along a pathway (like a wire) to the heart muscle and stimulate it to pump blood around the body.
People with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome are born with a normal pathway for these electrical pulses but also have an abnormal one, too. If the impulses go down both pathways, the heart is stimulated to pump irregularly and too often.
When this happens people feel their heart racing and pounding, having what are called palpitations.
WPW is identified when a heart trace or ECG is performed. This may be because someone has symptoms of palpitations and the doctor is trying to find out why. However, it's often noticed by chance when someone who is fit and well with no symptoms is having a routine health medical.
A considerable number of people with WPW have no symptoms. Of those who do have problems, most have developed symptoms between the ages of 11 and 50.
Having WPW syndrome doesn't automatically mean you need treatment. This is only necessary if it's causing problems.
However, it's important that your condition is properly investigated by a cardiologist or heart specialist, so that if you suddenly develop symptoms or other illnesses in the future, everyone (including yourself) knows what to expect. The cardiologist may want to arrange tests that will look at the heart’s electrical system and try to work out where the abnormal or aberrant pathway is. They may then explain whether treatment is advisable.
Infrequent attacks of palpitations may only need medication when they occur, in order to make the heart beat regularly. More frequent attacks may need daily medication to prevent them from occurring.
If the pathway can be identified and symptoms are particularly worrying, it may be possible to destroy or ablate the abnormal pathway. This is done either during open heart surgery or more often by passing a special device into the heart via the blood vessels and burning away the abnormal tissue (this is known as a catheter ablation).
