Leaders in Heart Rhythm Care: Leading heart rhythm specialists

At Leaders in Heart Rhythm Care (LHRC), our team of heart rhythm specialists work together to provide a dedicated and seamless experience for patients experiencing conditions such as atrial fibrillation or symptoms of heart rhythm disorders, including syncope (loss of consciousness), palpitations, fatigue and shortness of breath.

Our specialist team of consultant cardiologists and electrophysiologists perform over 1,000 heart rhythm related surgical interventions per year. With ten leading specialists all under one roof, LHRC benefits from the combined experience of experts who have practised across the NHS, private sector and in teaching hospitals.

The consultants who work at LHRC are passionate about research; they are at the forefront, offering the latest treatment, techniques and technologies to anyone who visits the clinic for cardiac care.

Our heart rhythm care team is a group of the best cardiac electrophysiologists with decades of experience in diagnosing complex arrhythmias. Arrhythmia is an abnormal heart rhythm where your heart might beat too fast, too slow or feel like it’s skipping beats. Arrhythmia symptoms should always be fully investigated, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have a severe or limiting condition.

From the tests and imaging to help us diagnose any heart arrhythmias or irregularities to the medical management or surgical treatment you need, you can find anything you need for cardiac care under one roof at Leaders in Heart Rhythm Care.

Arrhythmia Symptoms

The way heart arrhythmia presents itself can vary, which makes it difficult for some doctors to make a quick and definitive diagnosis. Our leading team of consultant cardiologists have decades of combined experience in identifying and diagnosing heart arrhythmia symptoms.

Symptoms can include: 

• A slow or fast heartbeat
• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness
• Sweating
• Fainting or syncope

Types of arrhythmias

There are a few different types of heart rhythms that will depend on what your symptoms are:

• Atrial fibrillation: your heart beats irregularly and faster than normal
• Supraventricular tachycardia: you have periods of an abnormally fast heart rate at rest
• Bradycardia: your heart beats more slowly than normal
• Heart block: your heart beats more slowly than normal and can cause collapse
• Ventricular fibrillation: a rare, rapid and disorganised rhythm of heartbeats that rapidly leads to loss of consciousness and sudden death if not treated immediately

How an arrhythmia is diagnosed

As some of the best arrhythmia doctors in the world, you’re in good hands to get the right diagnosis. There are several types of tests you may undergo at HCA UK to check your symptoms and have an arrhythmia diagnosed:

• Cardiac event recorder – these monitors attach with bracelets or patches worn under the arms, usually for at least one month, to record any suspected arrhythmias that occur infrequently or pass quickly.
• Echocardiogram – a procedure that uses ultrasound waves to reveal your heart’s size, structure and motion. 
• Holter monitor – a portable electrocardiogram that can record 24-hours or more or continuous cardiac activity. You may be asked to keep a diary during the period you wear the monitor, which will then be analysed in conjunction with what your monitor has recorded.
• Stress test or exercise stress test – during this test, you walk or run on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike while your heart is monitored. This can check your heart rhythm when it is under pressure, not at rest.

Treatments for arrhythmias

• Ablation or catheter ablation – aims to correct certain types of abnormal heart rhythms by blocking electrical pathways in your heart using heat or freezing on the area that’s causing your abnormal rhythm. It destroys the cardiac muscle that’s triggering your arrhythmia.
• Coronary bypass surgery – this is a surgical procedure where a healthy artery or vein is grated to bypass the blocked artery/vein. Although this is a surgical procedure, there are minimally invasive ways this can happen.
• Maze procedure – this is an operation, performed under general anaesthetic, to relieve symptoms of atrial fibrillation. 
• Pacemaker – this is a small device that is implanted under the collarbone. It uses electrical pulses to regulate your heartbeat.

Your consultant will talk you through all your options for the management or treatment of your arrhythmia depending on the results of your tests. You can ask our consultants any questions you have, and they’ll create a personalised plan for you based on your preferred way forward.

It’s important that you can trust your heart specialist, and that you feel comfortable enough and open enough to voice any questions, preferences or doubts you have about how you want to be treated. At LHRC, we aren’t just here to perform procedures. We’re here to make sure you have all the information you need to make informed decisions, and the confidence in your consultant to trust they’ll give you the best care, and outcomes, possible.

End-to-end heart rhythm care

We can offer you everything you need for your arrhythmia at LHRC, all under one roof, from your initial investigations with the latest tests and diagnostics to either the medical management of your symptoms or the treatment you need in our state-of-the-art catheter labs.

With everything available to you in one place, you’ll enjoy faster, more seamless treatment pathways. And, because we bring together the leading minds in the study and treatment of arrhythmias, you can be sure you’ll receive the definitive treatment or procedure for any heart rhythm symptoms. With ten leading specialists on hand, we have one of the most experienced teams of heart rhythm experts anywhere in the UK. Collectively, our consultants perform over a thousand heart rhythm-related surgical interventions each year, ensuring they’re always up to date with the very latest treatments, techniques and technologies.

Premier medical facilities

Based within The Wellington Hospital’s internationally renowned centre of excellence for cardiac care, our patients benefit from direct access to the facilities and expert medical support of one of the UK’s leading private hospitals.

The Wellington Hospital is a leader in cardiac care with 26 level 3 ITU beds, 12 operating theatres, 2 cardiac cath labs and the latest in robotic technology, including two surgical robots, the Gamma Knife and supporting centres of excellence at the forefront of patient care, including their neurological rehabilitation unit for patients who require long term, specialist support following cardiovascular events such as a stroke. More about our facilities at The Wellington Hospital

Multidisciplinary approach

To ensure management and treatment plans are robustly scrutinised, our consultants work closely together, bringing their combined decades of experience together for the benefit of their patients. More widely, all consultants within the LHRC work together with clinicians from multiple disciplines. Our regular multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings bring these experts together to review each case, and they include:

• Ten leading consultant electrophysiologists
• Two highly experienced cardiac clinical nurse specialists (CNS), Usha Gopalan and Obed Sardar, who can offer patients expert advice and support on their treatment plans
• Our team of cardiology imaging specialists who review diagnostic scans
• Our leading cardiomyopathy (heart muscle) specialists whose expertise in diagnostics and treatment pathways is invaluable to patients.