Dr. Pamela Mason, an electrophysiologist at the University of Virginia Cardiovascular Genetics clinic, discusses the importance of getting screened when family members have heart rhythm abnormalities. These conditions can be treated. The comprehensive cardiovascular genetics program provides a team of physicians and a genetics counselor that will be there to answer all of you and your family's questions.

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Cardiovascular genetic conditions can be treated. But they can only be treated if we know about it, which is why it's so vitally important that patients and their family members get screened. Some patients have gene mutations, which cause them to have heart rhythm abnormalities.

Heart rhythm abnormalities can cause people's hearts to go too fast or too slow. And there are a wide variety of those conditions. They're inherited in different ways. And so it's really important for our patients to have a comprehensive program where they have the ability to see people who are expert in heart rhythm disorders and are able to counsel them appropriately.

Here at the University of Virginia, we do have a comprehensive cardiovascular genetic program. So patients can make an appointment to be seen by a cardiologist and can also be seen by our genetic counselor at the same time. When we see a patient for evaluation, we always start with the history.

We start with the patient's personal history. What symptoms they have had. But the family history is also very important as well. Oftentimes, patients have distant relatives or grandparents who have died suddenly or unexpectedly.

And based upon what we're finding then we select appropriate testing, which can include things such as electrocardiograms or EKGs. Echocardiograms, which is an ultrasound of the heart. Sometimes we also do treadmill testing or stress testing. And occasionally we do recommend what we call an electrophysiology study to really look at the electrical conduction system of the heart.

After patients are screened, we will prescribe therapy, which is going to be very individualized. One of the most important pieces of all this is making sure the patients' families are appropriately screened. It's a very frightening thing to think about, having a genetic abnormality that might be putting you at risk for dangerous heart rhythm abnormalities. But we very much operate under the principle that having the knowledge really is a powerful thing.

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