It’s been awhile since I’ve been on the site. I was finally having consistent relief with my fifth biologic, Consentyx, other than continued lower back pain. I had a laminectomy at L4-L5 in 1977 and a subsequent fusion at the same level in 2003. My rheumatologist finally confirmed that the problem appeared to be mechanical rather than PsA, so off to a spinal surgeon I went, I underwent a fusion from L-2 through S-1, but suffered cardiac arrest about 3/4 of the way through the surgery. They got my heart started again after about 4 minutes of CPR, flipped me back over to my side, finished the surgery and then whisked me off to a level 5 trauma center to ICU. I was in the hospital for a little over 2 weeks. During that time they “discovered” that I have 2 problems with my heart, a growth between the 2 sides, and an electrical problem for which I am now wearing an external difibrillator “life vest.” Until about 8 weeks before the surgery I had always had perfect blood pressure, then it went sky high. A cardiologist wracked it up to pain response, put me on medication and cleared me for what he called “low risk from a cardiological standpoint” surgery. Now that I’m finally able to sit for a few minutes at a time I started researching, and have found that many studies have identified a significant increase risk of cardiovascular problems in people with PsA. Has anyone else run into this, or had their doctor mention it? If I can find all this information on Google, I’m not sure why none of the many doctors involved in “clearing” me for surgery didn’t seem to know it. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Wow, that was a scary time!
My GP is always concerned about the heart and inflammation when I see him. Did a stress test, and everything was fine.
Don’t know about surgery, but hope it all works out for you!
You need my breakfast: with my Nutra Bullet, I take greens, (spinach, kale etc. and a half of a apple, peach, frozen blueberries, and hemp seeds, and blend to make my morning drink! This will grow green hair on your chest!
Good grief! Sorry I have nothing more for you. I know we have mods with more know-how about cardiac involvement and PsA. Hopefully one of them will chime in soon. Take good care.
Sounds great except for the green hair! Thanks.
Thanks, I hope they do as well. This whold thing has gotten me more than a little scared. I waded through some of the research papers and it didn’t sound promising.
Hugs and hang in there.
I am assuming the growth between the chambers of your heart is Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy?
Here’s the scoop on “Cardiac Problems” Yup there is an increased risk if you have inflammatory arthritis. But there is a big difference between having heart problems and being at risk. Or to put it a different way No overweight male who has ever smoked and is over age 50 would have surgery ever. They are a MUCH higher risk group than arthritic women near the age of 60.
Now why did I pick arthritic women near the age of 60? 68.42 % of that group have Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Because of that risk you have to be cleared before surgery. Remember all those questions? He probably even ran an ECG. Unless you answered several of those questions positivley and the physical exam showed: (I’m going by memory here) This is when they listen to your heart the surgeon, cardiologist, and anesthesiologist all sign off:
- Double apical impulse or triple apical impulse (less common)
- Normal first heart sound; second heart sound usually is normally split
- S4 is frequently heard
- Jugular venous pulse revealing a prominent a wave
- Double carotid arterial pulse
- Apical precordial impulse that is displaced laterally and usually is abnormally forceful and enlarged
- Systolic ejection crescendo-decrescendo murmur
- Holosystolic murmur at the apex and axilla of mitral regurgitation
- Diastolic decrescendo murmur of aortic regurgitation
BUT just to be sure they do and ECG now they are looking for:
- ST-T wave abnormalities and LVH (common)
- Axis deviation (right or left)
- Conduction abnormalities (P-R prolongation, bundle-branch block)
- Sinus bradycardia with ectopic atrial rhythm
- Atrial enlargement
- Abnormal and prominent Q wave in the anterior precordial and lateral limb leads, short P-R interval with QRS suggestive of preexcitation, atrial fibrillation
- P-wave abnormality
If all of this checks out you have no more “risk” than perfectly healthy 20 year old. But they don’t do surgery unless you need it and in the case of your massive fusion, you REALLY needed it. So even if their are some issues such as blood pressure etc, those are taken care of so the surgery can proceed.
I’m not minimizing the problem by any means. I can only tell you the didn’t ignore the issue. The paperwork is horrendous if they do.
FWIW my cardiac issues is what finally lead to my diagnoses. The symptomatic days come and go. They can disappear for years at time. They did for me. On Jan 13 they came. My SVT lead to a stroke, so back on all the meds (there is a bunch) By coincidence, I’m going in tomorrow after a few days of Holter Hell (it 104 outside 3 days without a shower is Holter Hell) We are scheduling some quality time with an electrician. at min we will be implanting a monitor, hopefully an ablation to take care of the ryhtm issues. I am prepared however for the implanted defibrillator/pacemaker that he threatens me with. (I don’t like Beta Blockers) Because we are a top 50 heart hospital, there are some surgical options.
BUT as big BEEEEAAATCH as Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is, when properly treated, it has little effect on life expectancey. And it might be less than we even thing if it wasn’t for those folks whose FIRST symptom was cardiac rest which really screws up the numbers.
One thing @Glinda. I hope not a DAY goes by that you don’t thank someone for being in surgery when your Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy decided to make its presence known. Had you been away from the hospital… Oh and be thankful you were asleep, I was zapped when awake. worse than being shot.
Thank you so very much for this great information. I am extremely thankful that this occurred while I was in the hospital and that they were able to re-start my heart! I was concerned because despite my repeatedly telling all of the physicians involved in clearing me for the surgery that I had PsA, none of them ever mentioned potential cardiovascular issues. My rheumatologist has now decided that I can’t continue the Cosentyx until the cardiologists clear me for future use. I couldn’t find anything regarding cardiovascular issues and Cosentyx, but I trust my rheumatologist so I’m preparing for potential flares until the heart issues can be controlled. They are anticipating implanting a pacemaker, I think it would probably be better than the Life Vest portable defibrillator I’m wearing now. I certainly can relate to the heat issues that you’re enduring, Texas is pretty hot in the summer! I’m so sorry you were awake when you got zapped, and I’m thankful to God that it hasn’t happened again to me. I have appointments throughout the next two three weeks to continue cardiac testing, as I couldn’t tolerate many tests immediately after the back surgery. I’ll post what they find out in the event that others can use the information. Again, thank you so very much for sharin.g this important information