Electrophysiological Study (EP study)
An electrophysiological study (EP study) is a test used to evaluate your heart’s electrical system and to check for abnormal heart rhythms.
Natural electrical impulses coordinate contractions of the different parts of the heart. This helps keep blood flowing the way it should. This movement of the heart creates the heartbeat, or heart rhythm.
During an EP study, your doctor inserts small, thin wire electrodes into a vein in the groin (or neck, in some cases). He or she will then thread the wire electrodes through the vein and into the heart. To do this, he or she uses a special type of X-ray “movie,” called fluoroscopy. Once in the heart, the electrodes measures the heart’s electrical signals. Electrical signals are also sent through the electrodes to stimulate the heart tissue to try to cause the abnormal heart rhythm. This is done so that it can be evaluated and its cause can be found. It may also be done to help evaluate how well a medicine is working.
Why might I need an electrophysiological study?
Your healthcare provider may advise an EP study for these reasons:
• To evaluate symptoms such as dizziness, fainting, weakness, palpitation, or others to see if they might be caused by a rhythm problem. This may be done when other tests have not been clear and your doctor strongly suspects you have a heart rhythm problem
• EP studies can be used to get information related to abnormally fast or slow heart rhythms
To find the source of a heart rhythm problem with the intent to do ablation once the source is identified
• To see how well medicine(s) given to treat a rhythm problem are working
What are the risks of an EP Study?
Possible risks of an EP study include:
• Bleeding and bruising at the site where the catheter(s) is put into a vein
• Damage to the vessel that the catheter is put into
• Formation of blood clots at the end of the catheter(s) that break off and travel into a blood vessel
• Rarely, infection of the catheter site(s)
• Rarely, perforation (a hole) of the heart
• Rarely, damage to the heart’s conduction system
