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Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) Treatments
How is supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) treated?
Some SVTs don't cause symptoms, and you may not need treatment. If you do have symptoms, your doctor probably will recommend treatment.
To treat sudden episodes of SVT, your doctor may:
- Prescribe a medicine to take when the SVT occurs.
- Show you how you can slow your heart rate on your own with physical actions. These actions are called vagal maneuvers. They include bearing down or putting an ice-cold, wet towel on your face.
If these treatments don't work, you may have to go to your doctor's office or the emergency room. You may get a fast-acting medicine to slow your heart rate. If the SVT is serious, you may have a procedure called electrical cardioversion to reset the heart rhythm.
The goals of treatment are to prevent episodes, relieve symptoms, and prevent future problems. You and your doctor can decide what type of treatment is right for you. Your options may include medicines or a procedure called catheter ablation.
Catheter ablation might be done if you have symptoms that bother you a lot, you don't want to take heart rhythm medicine, or medicine has not worked for you. Ablation has risks, but they are rare. Many people decide to have ablation because they hope to feel much better afterward. That hope is worth the risks to them. But the risks may not be worth it for people who have few symptoms. Work with your doctor to decide what treatment is right for you.
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are research studies that evaluate a new medical approach, device, drug, or other treatment. As a Stanford Health Care patient, you may have access to the latest, advanced clinical trials.
Open trials refer to studies currently accepting participants. Closed trials are not currently enrolling, but may open in the future.