Our heart beats continuously from the day one is born to his death. The heart beat sometimes may become very slows (less than 50) Brady cardia or very fast with bizarre regularity, Tachycardia
The heart has got an electrical system which regulates the heart beat to pump in a regular synchronized fashion. If the heart beat becomes too slow the person can experience fainting attacks, weakness or heart failure.
Brady Arrhythmia –
- Complete heart block
- Sick Sinus Syndrome
Tachyarrhythmia –
- Atrial fibrillation and flutter
- Supraventricular arrhythmias like WPW syndrome etc.
- Ventricular tachycardia and arrhythmias
The patient may need treatment for these and if he has gone into heart block a pacemaker needs to be implanted.
If a patient has tachyarrhythmia’s the focus of the origin is identified with the help of electrophysiological study and the offending focus can be ablated using radiofrequency.
Recurrent ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation needs a preventive AICD or internal defibrillator implantation.