Cardiologist-Recommended Treatments For Cardiac Arrhythmias

Cardiac arrhythmias or abnormal heart rhythms occur as a result of a problem in the “wiring” of your heart muscle. Your heart could beat too slowly, very quickly or irregularly, and can cause symptoms like dizziness and palpitations. Most of the times it’s benign, you may not even feel it. But this does not mean it should be ignored, even if it’s not happening often. Not all arrhythmias are benign, it’s always better to get yours checked by an expert to rule out anything serious.

Atrial fibrillation (A-fib) is one of the most common arrhythmias. If detected early, these abnormal heartbeats can be treated and managed. Also, the longer an abnormal rhythm goes untreated, the more damage it can do to your heart. In addition to that, some arrhythmias may lead to life-threatening emergencies, which could have been prevented. While medicines play a vital role in helping to treat arrhythmias, sometimes a procedure, such as an ablation for AF, a pacemaker or an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is necessary.

It’s advisable that your consult with a cardiologist if you experience something unusual, who’ll likely go over your past medical history and get a string of non-invasive tests to see how your heart is functioning, including electrocardiogram, echocardiogram (EKG), where the former test determines if your heart is beating too fast (tachycardia) or too slow (bradycardia) besides providing an electrical picture of your heart’s health, whereas the latter provides information about the structural health and muscle strength of your heart. Get in touch with your care team, if you begin to notice symptoms such as dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting, chest pain or shortness of breath.

If you receive advice that a device like Pacemaker or Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator is necessary, do take it seriously and seek second opinion as well. While both are implanted into your body using a similar procedure, their treatment goals differ.

Pacemakers- A pacemaker is a small electronic device that is implanted under the skin to help regulate the heartbeat, and is most commonly used to treat several cardiac arrhythmias that produce bradycardia- a slow heartbeat. This device starts functioning as soon as it is inserted, which will allow your heart to maintain an adequate heart rate, which in turn ensures a normal, healthy blood flow throughout your body.

ICD- An ICD is a battery-powered device placed under the skin to treat rapid abnormal heart rhythms that can lead to cardiac arrest. Physicians recommend ICD to individuals who are at very high risk for a malignant ventricular arrhythmia (a very fast heartbeat that can lead to loss of blood and oxygen supply to your brain and body parts). Remember, ICD doesn’t cure underlying heart condition, but it does give immediate treatment if you ever have a life-threatening abnormal rhythm.

ICD can help prevent ventricular tachycardia from occurring (when heart beats very fast reaching heart rates above 200 times per minute).

The function of a pacemaker is to speed up your heart rate back to normal if it skips a beat or slows down, but ICDs besides being capable of all pacemaker functions, also delivers a shock to normalize too fast, deadly heart rates thus restoring normal blood flow to your body.

After recovering from either of the procedures, your life may change, but only slightly. Your care team will issue strict guidelines to follow to ensure you have the best recovery possible.

Contribute towards the safety of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims by getting CPR trained at the AHA certified CPR Kansas City. Either register online or call on 913-998-7499.