Arrhythmia

An arrhythmia is a change in the regular beat of the heart. The heart may seem to skip a beat or beat irregularly or very fast or very slowly. Arrhythmias occur commonly in middle-age adults. As people get older, they are more likely to experience an arrhythmia.

Causes
Many times, there is no recognizable cause of an arrhythmia. Triggers may include stress, caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, diet pills, and cough and cold medicines. If heart disease is not causing the arrhythmia, your doctor may suggest that you avoid these triggers.

In some people, arrhythmias are associated with heart disease. In these cases, heart disease, not the arrhythmia, poses the greatest risk to the patient.

In a very small number of people with serious symptoms, arrhythmias themselves are dangerous. These arrhythmias require medical treatment to keep the heartbeat regular. For example, a few people have a very slow heartbeat (bradycardia), causing them to feel lightheaded or faint. If left untreated, the heart may stop beating, resulting in death.

Symptoms
You should not panic if you experience a few flutters or your heart races occasionally. But if you have questions about your heart rhythm or symptoms, check with your doctor. One of the most common arrhythmias is sinus arrhythmia, the change in heart rate that can occur normally when we take a breath. These experiences may cause anxiety, but for most people, they are completely harmless.

Diagnosis
Sometime s an arrhythmia can be detected by listening to the heart with a stethoscope. However, the electrocardiogram is the most precise method for diagnosing the arrhythmia.

An arrhythmia may not occur at the time of the exam even though symptoms are present at other times. In such cases, tests will be done if necessary to find out whether an arrhythmia is causing the symptoms.

Tests for detecting arrhythmias include:

• Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)
• Electrophysiologic study (EPS)

Treatment
Many arrhythmias require no treatment whatsoever.

Serious arrhythmias are treated in several ways depending on what is causing the arrhythmia. Sometimes the heart disease is treated to control the arrhythmia. Or, the arrhthmia itself may be treated using one or more of the following treatments.

• Drugs
• Cardioversion
• Automatic implantable defibrillators
• Artificial pacemaker
• Surgery

Last Updated: December 03, 2007