Nothing to Fear

Speaking to an audience of employees in December 1999, Beth Titus described a five-year ordeal with an atrial arrhythmia that persisted despite years of conventional treatment and medication. At the end of her speech, the audience was in tears.

Beth was diagnosed with an atrial tachycardia in 1996, after experiencing daily 5 to 20 minute episodes that left her lightheaded and dizzy. She was placed on medication to control the arrhythmia. Because her episodes were often triggered by exercise, she also had to abstain from physical activity. In September 1996, she underwent a conventional ablation procedure that halted the arrhythmia. However, after two years the arrhythmia returned, and she could no longer climb stairs without risking an episode.

"I was living life on the sidelines. My friends could play soccer or go to gym class. I had to watch."

In May 1999, Beth's episodes became more frequent. She was referred to Steven Compton, MD who at the time was practicing at the University of Utah. (Dr. Compton is now affiliated with the Alaska Heart Institute.) Dr. Compton used the EnSite® System to identify a focal tachycardia that originated from a site in Beth's right atrium. The site was eliminated with a simple ablation procedure.

Since the EnSite procedure, Beth has had no recurrences of the arrhythmia, and she has resumed the life of a regular high-school sophomore. Five years of arrhythmia treatment are now over, and the braces she's worn for eight years have just been removed. In what is normally a watershed of worry for parents, she has just received her driver's license. But if she handles the responsibilities of adult life with the maturity that she's dealt with her medical problems, her parents have nothing to fear.