{"id":166594,"date":"2020-11-24T07:45:10","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T12:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=166594"},"modified":"2021-04-13T12:23:07","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T16:23:07","slug":"mom-extra-thankful-worry-free-heart-procedure-uconn-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2020\/11\/mom-extra-thankful-worry-free-heart-procedure-uconn-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom-To-Be Extra Thankful After Worry-Free Heart Procedure\u00a0at UConn Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since her daughter\u2019s arrival three years ago Semeda Amegashie, 33, of New Britain, experienced heart palpitations once in a while. She chalked up the infrequent episodes to stress.<\/p>\n

But recently during the start of her second pregnancy, now expecting a son, her heart issue progressed and became more serious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had my scariest heart episode ever. My pounding heart woke me up from a sound sleep just after midnight and it lasted until the morning. The movement in my chest was as if my heart was trying to get out of me. It was very scary, and even scared my husband,\u201d says Semeda, who was drenched in sweat until the sun came up, when her heart finally stopped pounding.<\/p>\n

\"UConn
Dr. Christopher Pickett (Tina Encarancion\/UConn Health)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Semeda\u2019s primary care physician at UConn Health, Dr. David Ozimek had connected her to Dr. Christopher Pickett<\/a>, co-director of the Heart Rhythm Program at the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center<\/a>. \u201cI felt I was in good hands immediately,\u201d says Semeda. \u201cAnd it turns out I\u2019m extra electric!\u201d<\/p>\n

Pickett discovered that Semeda was born with extra electrical pathways in her heart, a condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, which had the potential to be dangerous, even life-threatening. To correct the abnormal heart rhythms she was experiencing, Semeda ultimately needed a heart procedure called an supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) ablation.<\/p>\n

But Semeda is pregnant and expecting her son to be born in May. Traditionally, these invasive procedures require guidance with x-ray fluoroscopy, which involves radiation that can be harmful to a fetus.<\/p>\n

Thankfully Pickett and the Calhoun Cardiology Center now have innovative technology in place to perform heart procedures free of radiation in high-risk patients, even pregnant women, inside the Electrophysiology (EP) Lab at UConn Health.<\/p>\n

To innovatively solve Semeda\u2019s heart condition during her early pregnancy, Pickett moved fast. In the EP Lab, first Pickett mapped the electrical pathways of her heart, and then moved forward with the no-fluoroscopy, minimally invasive procedure to ablate or zap them to permanently diffuse the extra electrical currents, preventing them from causing her any future heart havoc.<\/p>\n

Now, just weeks post-procedure, Semeda is very pleased.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good, but of course a little tired due to the pregnancy. Now I no longer have to worry or be scared of my fast heart-racing episodes,\u201d she says. \u201cNow my only focus is pacing myself, and preparing to become a mom-to-be of two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her experience, Semeda says it has particular resonance during this holiday season.<\/p>\n

\u201c2020 hasn\u2019t been an easy year for us, or anyone, due to the virus. This successful, safe heart procedure during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and while being pregnant is allowing our family a way to be extra thankful, and celebrate this Thanksgiving even while staying home with just us,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cI hope my success story can give a little light to others during the darkness of this pandemic, and share a little bit of hope and happiness for the holidays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pickett couldn\u2019t agree more, and shares the success with his entire EP Lab team who made this possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven as recently as last year, without these new techniques of radiation-free procedures, it would have been enormously difficult to safely treat Semeda\u2019s condition while pregnant. I am very thankful that, along with our EP Lab team, we were able to share a radiation-free, safe procedure and positive outcome for Semeda, her heart, and beautiful growing family,\u201d says Pickett.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mom-to-be Semeda Amegashie and her family are especially thankful this year, because of a minimally invasive heart procedure she had at UConn Health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":166596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1969,2231,2235,179],"tags":[2243,2245],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-166594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiology","category-health-well-being","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-health","tag-health-wellness","tag-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 09:44:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166594"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166606,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166594\/revisions\/166606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/166596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166594"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=166594"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=166594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}