What is an arrhythmia?
An arrhythmia is any disturbance in the regular, rhythmic beating of the heart. Bradycardia is an inappropriately slow heartbeat (< 60 beats/min), whereas tachycardia is an inappropriately fast heartbeat (> 100 beats/min). Tachycardias are subdivided into supraventricular, which originate in the atria, and ventricular, which originate in the ventricles. The presence of an arrhythmia indicates a problem in the electrical conduction system of the heart. Sometimes, however, coronary artery disease and heart attack may lead to arrhythmias.
To enable your heart to beat, electrical impulses travel through the heart via what is sometimes referred to as a conduction pathway. Arrhythmia are disorders of your heart’s electrical system, whereby there is a change in the regular beat of your heart. This can be as a result of the conduction pathway being damaged or blocked, or because an extra pathway is present. The heart may beat too quickly (tachycardia), or too slowly (bradycardia) or irregularly, all of which may affect the heart’s ability to pump blood around the body. These abnormal heart beats are known as arrhythmia. Arrhythmia can occur in the upper chambers of the heart, (atria) or in the lower chambers of the heart, (ventricles). Arrhythmia may occur at any age, and are most often a nuisance rather than a serious problem.
By the time they get to the MICU, most people have a good basic idea of what arrhythmias are all about, but enough new people are coming in that we thought it might be helpful to put together a quick review. The idea that helped me the most in actually understanding what arrhythmias do to people was correlating, or maybe I should say learning to visualize in my head, what the heart was actually doing during one arrhythmia or the other. Each part of the normal cardiac cycle has a specific mechanical event associated with it, and if you can get a mental image in your head of what is, or isn’t happening, then the effects of the arrhythmias become much clearer.
The electrical (conduction) system of the heart is responsible for making sure that the heart rate is normal, and that all the heart chambers are working in synchrony with each other. An arrhythmia is an abnormality of the heart’s conduction system, usually meaning that the heart is going too fast or two slow. There are many types of arrhythmias. Most arrhythmias are safe, but some are not. People who have arrhythmias may have no symptoms, or may experience symptoms like palpitations or fainting. Sometimes, looking at an electrocardiogram (EKG) can help diagnose an arrhythmia, but usually other testing, called ambulatory monitoring, is needed.
An irregularity in the force or rhythm of the heartbeat, an Arrhythmia is a term that covers many types of heart rythym abnormalities. They are dangerous in that they reduce the capacity of the heart, leading to decreased blood flow to the brain. Syncope (blackouts, or swooning), presyncope, and dizziness are important indicators of the effect of arrhythmias on the brain. If you think you may have an arrhythmia, or are suffering any of the symtoms listed above, contact Arrhythmia Consultants, P.C. or your doctor as soon as possible.
