What is an arrhythmia?
An arrhythmia is a condition in which the heart beats irregularly (non-rhythmically), too quickly or too slowly.
There are several categories of arrhythmias:
- Bradycardia, or slow heartbeat.
- Tachycardia, or fast heartbeat.
- Non-rhythmic arrhythmias: extrasystolic arrhythmia or pulse dropout, atrial fibrillation – ciliary arrhythmia.
Most arrhythmias are not severe and do not cause complications. However, there are also life-threatening conditions: ventricular tachycardia (especially due to structural heart disease), ventricular fibrillation, some genetic arrhythmogenic syndromes. Some arrhythmias (atrial fibrillation or ciliary arrhythmia, atrial flutter) are accompanied by an increased risk of stroke and require appropriate treatment.
What is a normal heartbeat?
Doctors define a healthy heart rate by its frequency per minute. Often the heart rate varies among individuals. It is considered normal when the heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute.
The average heart beats (expands and contracts) 100,000 times a day and pumps about 7,200 liters of blood into the body. Over 70 years, the human heart beats an average of 2.5 billion times.
What are the symptoms of arrhythmia:
- A sensation of an intermittent heartbeat in the chest
- Stabbing pain in the chest
- Dizziness or feeling close to fainting
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain/ discomfort or tightness
- Weakness or fatigue (feeling very tired)
- Anxiety
- Blurred vision
Sometimes the symptoms of arrhythmia may not be noticed, and only doctor-ordered examinations reveal its presence.
What causes arrhythmia?
- Heart diseases
- Disorders of electrolyte levels (such as magnesium or potassium) in the blood.
- Damage to the heart (impaired ejection fraction, presence of scarring in the heart).
- Conditions after cardiac surgery.
- Certain medications
- High emotional stress.
- Alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, or excessive physical activity
- Thyroid dysfunction
Risk factors
- Age - your chances of developing an arrhythmia increase with age.
- Genes - your chances may be higher if a close relative had an arrhythmia. Some types of heart disease may also have a family history.
- Lifestyle - alcohol, tobacco and drugs can increase your risk.
- Air pollution.
- Health conditions - high blood pressure, diabetes, low blood sugar, obesity, sleep apnea and autoimmune diseases are among the conditions that can lead to heart rhythm disorders.
Diagnosis
- Electrocardiogram - records the electrical activity of your heart.
- Holter monitoring is a portable device that can record your heartbeat (cardiogram) for 24, 48 hours or more.
- Implantable loop recorder - this small device is inserted under your skin and records your heartbeat for an extended period of time.
- Echocardiography - heart ultrasound
- Physical activity test
- Lab (blood)tests
- Electrophysiological studies are the gold standard for arrhythmia research, and in some cases an indispensable method. It will help you find out what is causing your heart rhythm problems.
How is treatment done?
To treat an arrhythmia, you need to see an arrhythmologist. Treatment can be either medical or invasive. Invasive treatments:
- Pacemaker implantation is used to treat an abruptly slow heart rhythm.
- Cardioverter-defibrillator implantation - used for life-threatening arrhythmias.
- Ablation - removal of the arrhythmia focus. This procedure is performed by puncturing a femoral vein, during which the arrhythmia that exists in the heart is “burned out” or “frozen” (cryoablation). Ablation can be used to treat arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation (ciliary arrhythmia), supraventricular paroxysmal tachycardia, WPW syndrome, atrial flutter, atrial tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, extrasystolic arrhythmias, etc.
New Hospitals has a fully equipped arrhythmia center, where arrhythmological procedures and operations of any complexity are performed. The head of the center is Zviad Matoshvili, the first Georgian doctor fully certified by European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA). It was his team who performed the first cryoablation in Transcaucasia. New Hospitals Arrhythmia Center consults up to 4,000 patients annually and performs more than 400 surgeries/ablations.
