Bruins rookie defenseman Charlie McAvoy relieved after heart procedure

Boston Bruins rookie defenseman Charlie McAvoy rejoined his teammates Monday only a week after having a procedure to treat an abnormal heart rhythm. He hasn't been cleared to practice but has a follow-up appointment later this week.

Team internist Dr. David Finn explained exactly how the procedure is done.



"It's done through a small catheter through the lower abdomen and into the heart," said Finn. "They're able to isolate a bundle, or extra electrical tissue, a circuit that creates this abnormal heart rhythm. They'll able to find that and basically delete it. They can destroy the extra tissue and once that's gone, it doesn't come back again."

Following the Bruins game on Nov. 26, McAvoy told team physicians that he experienced heart palpitations during the game. It wasn't the first time he experienced an episode. He had felt it about "a handful" of times in the past and didn't know what was happening and admitted it was scary. The episode on Nov. 26 lasted longer than the previous ones. Fortunately, Dr. Finn was in attendance, and along with team trainer Don Del Negro, they were quickly able to monitor McAvoy's heartbeat and decided to go to Massachusetts General Hospital for further testing and observation.

McAvoy said it was a sense of relief once he was given the diagnosis, knowing that it wasn't life threatening or dangerous to his health.

"I was kind of nervous that this is going to be something that's really bad and if I was ever going to be able to play again," McAvoy said. "So, to find out that it was something that's not dangerous, or life threatening, or something I could continue to play with was a good takeaway from the overall situation."

After the diagnosis, McAvoy was cleared to play because there was zero danger to his health. He was told it could reoccur and he knew how to handle the situation when it happened. He began to have an episode during the third period of that game against the Edmonton Oilers. He attempted to play through it.

"I can't mentally, physically be there and play when it's happening," admitted McAvoy. "It's scary and this was before I was diagnosed, so my heart's beating really fast and I'm nervous. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. It's something that I can't play with when I have it, so to bring full circle, knowing that the likelihood was there that it could happen again and knowing I can't be in the middle of an episode and mentally be attentive to a hockey game.

"That night (Nov. 26) was a little bit scary and the following days we went and found out what it was and we handled it really well."

He had the procedure on Jan. 22 because it was the block in the schedule where he would miss the least amount of games. He admitted that he was nervous while playing after his diagnosis until the time he had the procedure. Now that it's over, he's ready to move forward.

"Take it out of the back of my mind that I would never have to worry about it on a long-term scale," McAvoy said. "To get it done now, I can go through a long, not only sports, but life and I won't have to worry about it ever again."

After the procedure, McAvoy was told to not do anything for a week. He was back on the ice Monday for the first time since his procedure. He took a light twirl before the team's regular practice at Warrior Ice Arena. There's a plan in place to bring him up to speed before a decision is made on when he'll be cleared to return to game action.

"I have no reason to think that I would come back different," he said. "Maybe some extra time to get back , but I'm still the same person one week removed. I feel good, so we'll get back out there, get on the ice, see how things are going and when the time's right we'll get back out there."