CardioDefender

A heart arrhythmia (also called dysrhythmia) is an irregular or abnormal heartbeat. Heart rhythm problems (heart arrhythmias) occur when the electrical impulses in your heart that coordinates your heartbeats don't work properly, causing your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly. The effect of these electrical impulses on your heart can be seen with an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) evaluation.

The Joint Committee of the AHA/ACC (American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology) recommends that everyone over 40 years of age should be examined for potential heart arrhythmias.  In United States, India, and China alone there are ~849 million people at risk of heart arrhythmias.

• In the United States alone, more than 4 million people a year suffer from recurrent arrhythmias warranting a physician’s care; about 780,000 people are admitted to the hospital for arrhythmias annually.
• In India it is estimated that 18 million people suffer from recurrent arrhythmias annually
• In China about 20 million people suffer from recurrent arrhythmias annually

Most people have occasional, irregular heartbeats that may feel like a fluttering or racing heart.  Some people who feel arrhythmias don't have a serious problem, while others who have life-threatening arrhythmias have no symptoms at all.

Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is one type of arrhythmia that is deadly. It occurs when the heart beats with rapid, erratic electrical impulses. This causes pumping chambers in your heart (the ventricles) to quiver uselessly, instead of pumping blood. Without an effective heartbeat, blood pressure plummets, cutting off blood supply to your vital organs. A person with ventricular fibrillation will collapse within seconds and soon won't be breathing or have a pulse

Heart arrhythmia treatment can often control or eliminate irregular heartbeats. In addition, because troublesome heart arrhythmias are often made worse, or are even caused, by a weak or damaged heart, you may be able to reduce your arrhythmia risk by adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle.

Certain arrhythmias may increase your risk of developing conditions such as:

• Stroke:  When your heart quivers, it's unable to pump blood effectively, which can cause blood to pool. This can cause blood clots to form. If a clot breaks loose, it can travel to and obstruct a brain artery, causing a stroke. This may damage a portion of your brain or lead to death. For people who have atrial fibrillation, the medications warfarin (Coumadin) or dabigatran (Pradaxa) may help prevent blood clots, which can cause a stroke.
• Heart failure:  This can result if your heart is pumping ineffectively for a prolonged period due to a bradycardia or tachycardia, such as atrial fibrillation. Sometimes, controlling the rate of the arrhythmia that's causing the heart failure can improve your heart's function.

There are many different types of arrhythmia’s including:

• Tachycardia: A fast heart rhythm with a rate of more than 100 beats per minute.
• Bradycardia: A slow heart rhythm with a rate below 60 beats per minute.
• Supraventricular arrhythmias: Arrhythmias that begin in the atria (the heart’s upper chambers). “Supra” means above; “ventricular” refers to the lower chambers of the heart, or ventricles.
• Ventricular arrhythmias: Arrhythmias that begin in the ventricles (the heart’s lower chambers.
• Bradyarrhythmias: Slow heart rhythms that may be caused by disease in the heart’s conduction system, such as the sinoatrial (SA) node, atrioventricular (AV) node or HIS-Purkinje network.

Arrhythmias may not cause any signs or symptoms; in fact, your doctor might find you have an arrhythmia before you do, during a routine examination.  Noticeable arrhythmia symptoms may include:  

• Palpitations: A feeling of skipped heartbeats, fluttering, "flip-flops" or feeling that the heart is "running away"
• Pounding in the chest
• Dizziness or feeling lightheaded
• Shortness of breath
• Chest discomfort
• Weakness or fatigue (feeling very tired)

Arrhythmias can be caused by:

• The healing process after heart surgery
• Coronary artery disease
• High blood pressure
• Changes in the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy)
• Heart valve disorders
• Electrolyte imbalances in the blood, such as sodium or potassium
• Injury from a heart attack
• Other medical conditions

Arrhythmia risk factors can be divided into two categories; those that you can control and those that cannot be controlled:

Non-controllable risk factors

• Family history
• Advancing age
• Heart disorders from birth

Controllable risk factors

• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Smoking
• Excess weight
• Caffeine
• Alcohol abuse
• Lack of exercise
• Some medications
• Sleep apnea

Your doctor may use one or more of the following tests to help them determine if you have a heart arrhythmia:

1. Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG)
2. Stress test
3. Longer-term monitoring devices
1. Event recorder
2. Holter monitor
3. Implantable heart monitor
4. Electrophysiology (EP) study