“This device in my chest and the scar will make me stronger in the long run.”
“They felt like something fluttering in my chest, like a moth flapping his wings around,” said the 38-year-old woman from Red Bank. Heart palpitations — rapid, fluttering or pounding heartbeats — are usually harmless. But for Ms. Hilfiker, they were a symptom of several serious heart problems. Although she had been to cardiologist after cardiologist growing up, none had been able to help her, until she went to see Zyad Younan, MD. Dr. Younan is an electrophysiologist (a cardiologist who specializes in abnormal heart rhythms) and an attending cardiologist at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJ), one of the nation's top hospitals for heart care.
Dr. Younan recommended an electrophysiology study to find the cause of
the heart palpitations and, if possible, fix it. During the study, done
through a catheterization procedure, Ms. Hilfiker’s heart suddenly
stopped. Her breathing stopped too, and she lost consciousness. “If
this had happened outside of the hospital, her heart would have stopped
suddenly and she may not be here with us today,” said Dr. Younan.
He saved Ms. Hilfiker’s life by shocking her heart (defibrillation)
to stop the very fast irregular heartbeat that had caused the sudden cardiac
arrest and bring her heart back to its normal rhythm.
Once Ms. Hilfiker was stable, Dr. Younan continued the procedure, inserting
long thin tubes (catheters) into groin arteries and threading them to
the heart to record the electrical activity and pathways. He found that
Ms. Hilfiker had supraventricular tachycardia, a very fast irregular heartbeat.
Dr. Younan fixed this by using radiofrequency energy (ablation), delivered
through a catheter, to destroy a tiny area of heart muscle, which stopped
the electrical impulses causing the problem. He used a state-of-the-art
Stereotaxis system in which magnets helped him steer the catheter to precisely
the right spot. “Stereotaxis is safer and more stable than manual
ablation,” said Dr. Younan. RWJ is one of a few hospitals in New
Jersey offering this technology.
To find out why Ms. Hilfiker almost died, Dr. Younan ordered more tests,
including an MRI, a catheterization of the heart’s arteries and
a CT scan. The results showed that Ms. Hilfiker had a rare and —
serious — problem: her left coronary artery was connected to her
pulmonary artery instead of her aorta. Her heart was not getting enough
oxygen-rich blood. “Most people with this type of problem end up
dying in infancy or early adolescence for an unknown reason,” said
shaddy Younan, MD, (Zyad’s brother, and also an attending cardiologist
at RWJ), who did the catheterization.
Ms. Hilfiker also had Brugada syndrome, a potentially life-threatening
problem with her heart rhythm, and scar tissue from a heart attack she
never knew she had. She needed open-heart surgery to interrupt the abnormal
connection of the left coronary artery to the pulmonary artery and establish
normal heart circulation. She also required an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator
to protect her from sudden cardiac arrest, which Brugada syndrome and
the scar tissue could cause.
Mark Anderson, MD, FACS, Professor of Surgery and Chief of Cardiac Surgery
and Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical
School and RWJ performed the procedure. A few days later, Dr. Zyad Younan
put the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator in Ms. Hilfiker’s
chest. The small device monitors her heart’s rhythm and delivers
electrical shocks as needed to control abnormal heartbeats. “If
Ms. Hilfiker was left alone, she would have developed heart failure or
died of an arrhythmia,” said Dr. Anderson. “The physicians
at RWJ are very familiar with adult congenital cardiac problems.”
“This device in my chest and the scar will make me stronger in the
long run,” said Ms. Hilfiker, who was married in November 2011.
She and her husband look forward to starting a family thanks to the cardiac
team at RWJ.
About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) is a 965-bed academic medical center with campuses in New Brunswick and Somerville, NJ. Its Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, stroke care, neuroscience, joint replacement, and women’s and children’s care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.bmsch.org).
As the flagship Cancer Hospital of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the principal teaching hospital of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, RWJUH is an innovative leader in advancing state-of-the-art care. A Level 1 Trauma Center and the first Pediatric Trauma Center in the state, RWJUH’s New Brunswick campus serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.
RWJUH has been ranked among the best hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report seven times and has been selected by the publication as a high performing hospital in numerous specialties. The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital has been ranked among the best hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report three times. In addition, RWJUH was named among the best places to work in health care by Modern Healthcare magazine and received the Equity Care of Award as Top Hospital for Healthcare Diversity and Inclusion from the American Hospital Association.
Both the New Brunswick and Somerset campuses have earned significant national recognition for clinical quality and patient safety, including the prestigious Magnet® Award for Nursing Excellence and “Most Wired” designation by Hospitals and Health Networks Magazine. The Joint Commission and the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services have designated the New Brunswick Campus as a Comprehensive Stroke Center and the Somerset Campus as a Primary Stroke Center.
The American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer has rated RWJUH among the nation’s best comprehensive cancer centers and designated the Steeplechase Cancer Center at RWJ Somerset as a Comprehensive Community Cancer Center. The Joint Surgery Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset has earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for total knee and total hip replacement surgery.