Ventricular Arrhythmia

The function of the heart is no secret and is known to all. The heart pumps blood by contraction and relaxation of its four chambers. These muscular contractions push the blood through a uniform pattern. These contractions and relaxations occur due to electrical impulses sent by the heart muscles. When the electrical impulses are disturbed, it leads to heart arrhythmias. These are abnormal rhythms of the heart that causes the blood to pump blood less effectively. Most of the time, arrhythmias are benign and temporary in occurrence. These occasional extra beats or skipping of a beat leads to temporary arrhythmias. When arrhythmia turns into a regular occurrence, it leads to a life-threatening condition. There are two categories of arrhythmias, ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmia. When the upper two chambers called the atrium are affected it leads to supraventricular arrhythmia. Ventricular arrhythmia occurs when two lower chambers of the heart are affected.

What is Ventricular Arrhythmia
It is a heart condition where irregular heart rhythms and heartbeats occur in the ventricle chamber of the heart. There are basically three types of this arrhythmia that affects patients. They include ventricular tachycardia, ventricular barycardia and ventricular fibrillation. When the heart beats too fast, about more than 100 beats/minute it leads to tachycardia. When the heartbeat is less than 60 beats/minute it causes barycardia. And ventricular fibrillation is a condition where the heart beats fast and does not follow a coordinated rhythm.

Causes
Abnormal electrical impulses occurring in the lower chambers of the heart or ventricles leads to ventricular arrhythmia. The electrical signals are irregular and/or uncoordinated. This causes the heart to pump insufficient oxygenated blood into the body. This may lead to sudden death of the patient. Other causes may include medications, caffeine and nicotine that causes changes in the heart rhythm. However, these heart arrhythmia causes are not considered to be very serious. Scarring of heart muscles due to heart attack, is considered to be a serious condition. This is because scarring interrupts with the electrical impulses of the heart. Other heart diseases include cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, valvular heart disease and congenital heart disease. Low sodium or potassium levels in the blood may lead to arrhythmia.

Symptoms
There are a few symptoms that helps detect this condition. These heart arrhythmia symptoms include heart palpitations depending on the severity of the condition. The symptoms also include:

• Breathing difficulty
• Dizziness
• Fainting spells
• Low blood pressure
• Excessive sweating
• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath

If one experiences these symptoms, they should visit a heart specialist for further diagnosis. As you already know, this condition can lead to sudden death and therefore, should not be neglected.

Treatment
The treatment includes implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). This is a device that is placed in the chest to sense ventricular tachycardia. When ventricular tachycardia occurs, electrical signals are sent by the device to bring the heart rhythms back to normal. In case of an emergency, defibrillators are placed to send electrical shocks to normalize the irregular heartbeats. Cardiac ablation is a surgical procedure to destroy heart muscles that lead to arrhythmia. Patients are suggested a low sodium and low cholesterol diet to maintain healthy heart. Exercises are suggested to reduce the incidence of this arrhythmia.

If one experiences these symptoms, visit a doctor immediately. Based on the causes and the severity of the condition, the doctor will suggest the correct treatment. Keep your heart healthy by eating a healthy diet and with regular exercising. This will help prevent ventricular arrhythmia from occurring to a great extent.