As a nursing student at the University of Michigan, Kori Bradley, 20, was used to stress. But when she started having fainting spells, she knew it wasn’t due to exam jitters.

“When I fainted, my roommate called 911. At the hospital, they ran some tests, including an EKG. It indicated I could have inherited Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome,” she says. Bradley’s mother has the same genetic condition, which causes irregular heartbeats or atrial fibrillation.

Bradley was transferred to Sinai-Grace and put under the care of her mother’s cardiologist, Mukarram Siddiqui, M.D., chief of cardiovascular services.

“Dr. Siddiqui gave me the option of medication or having an ablation procedure. I wanted to have the procedure and get it out of the way,” she says.

Ablation is a minimally invasive procedure where a specialized cardiologist makes microscopic scars, or ablations, on the heart to disconnect the electrical pathway of the abnormal electrical impulses throughout the heart.

Bradley’s procedure was a success and after a few days she was able to leave the hospital and go back to focusing on finals.     

This story first appeared in Sinai-Grace Hospital’s Healthy Living magazine. Click here to read more Healthy Living stories.