23 April, 2017, Santa Rosa, California (USA)
Following an impressive ride at the Tour of the Alps, Kilian Frankiny will be sidelined from racing as he undergoes a heart procedure this week to correct a heart problem identified during the race.
BMC Racing Team Chief Medical Officer Dr. Max Testa said Kilian has been experiencing short and self-limiting episodes of SVT (supra-ventricular tachycardia), events that are not uncommon in athletes.
“In the last few weeks Kilian experienced some “jumps” in his heart rate during races. He was still able to perform at a high level and he didn’t experience any worrisome symptoms. We did some stress tests and heart ultrasounds, which showed that his heart is healthy. However, the episodes continued, so we decided to put an Electrocardiography (ECG) recorder on him during one of the Tour of the Alps stages. We were able to document the cause of his heart rate jumps.”
“Kilian will undergo a radiofrequency ablation this week to prevent any episodes in the future. The recovery time for an athlete after this procedure is around one week to ten days. However, we will follow the recommendations of the specialists at the University Hospital of Bern, where the procedure will be performed, to determine the exact recovery required. We will take every precaution necessary with Kilian’s recovery and won’t rush to have him back at the start line before he is fit to do so.”
Frankiny said the surgery will give him peace of mind on the bike.
“The first time I really felt it or saw it on my SRM PC8 power meter was in Catalunya. I can’t really explain the feeling, it’s a special feeling, but you can feel that something is not quite right. We checked my files and saw that my heart rate would go up to around 220-230 beats per minute for 10-20 seconds,” Frankiny said.
“When I’ve had the episodes recently I’ve been worried and when you have something like this you always think about it, so it will be good to get it fixed so that I can concentrate on racing again.”
