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Doctor insights on: Supraventricular Arrythmia

Not usually: Svt should no be deadly. If it lasts for a long time(many hours or days), the heart can get tired and that is potentially dangerous. ...Read more

Ep: This is a serious condition and you must see an electrophysiologist. If normal heart, it is possible at your age to manage with medication but often can have an ablation and cure it. ...Read more

Usually benign: Premature or "skipped" beats frome the bottom chambers of the heart are common; they sometimes occur in fixed patterns. When every other beat is a premature beat, it's called ventricular bigeminy. When every 3rd beat is premature, it's called ventricular trigeminy, and so on. Bottom line: with a normal heart, these patterns are completely benign and don't need treatment unless very troubling. ...Read more

Not usually: Not typically; however, if you also have an accessory pathway (wolff-parkinson-white syndrome), this is a unique situation where af is known to cause very rapid ventricular activation during af, which can lead to vf. Rapid ventricular response may cause cardiac weakening over time, which in turn may increase the risk of vf. ...Read more

Symptoms: You should be seeing a cardiologist for evaluation and management. ...Read more

Possibly..: In ventricular fibrillation, vfib, the heart is quivering and there is no blood flow so the person is clinically dead. If the heart cannot be restored to a rhythmn where there is blood flow, the patient will then be pronounced dead. Treatment for this rhythmn includes electrically shocking the heart as quickly as possible. Performing CPR in the meantime can be life-saving. ...Read more

Holter results: inspection of relevance ECG tracings is necessary for appropriate interpretive report. ...Read more

Neither: Neither is worse, both require treatment when they cause symptoms. ...Read more

Atria or ventricles: Supra ventricular tachycardia: from upper chambers of the heart, is due to irritability (increased automaticity) or a short circuit (reentry), heart is usually structurally normal. Ventricular tachycardia: from lower chambers of the heart, due to irritability, can occur in normal hearts but is more often seen in hearts with scar tissue or weak hearts and can be life threatening. ...Read more

Not necessarily: One can have atrial tachycardia/paroxysmal atrial tachycardia with a structurally normal heart and no evidence of coronary artery disease. ...Read more

Not really pulseless: When VT occurs at a fast enough rate, there is inadequate time for ventricular filling, cardiac output falls, and blood pressure falls. You may not be able to palpate a pulse but an arterial line would show a waveform that is reduced in amplitude. Rate is the key. As tissue perfusion fails, acidosis, hypoxemia and hyperkalemia result leading to ventricular fibrillation and death. ...Read more

Multipe reasons: Usually one is born with an extra 'circuit' or a propensity to have rapid firing in the upper chambers of the heart. Svt can in some cases be exacerbated by activity, stress, stimulants etc. ...Read more

In most cases: Either conservatively with medications or with radiofrequency ablation which has a very high cure rate. ...Read more

Upper heart chambers: Fast heart beat due to mechanism arising from the upper chamber of the heart is known as supraventricular tachycardia. It could be due to electrical reentry (think of it as a short circuit) or increased automaticity (electrically hyperactive cells). It is amenable to treatment in most cases. ...Read more

Yes: Eliminating the "short circuit" in your heart responsible for the tachycardia by way of a procedure called ablation (performed in the cath lab) is one permanent way of treating the svt. Medications can also be used to modify the electrical activity of the heart and control the tachycardia. Consult your cardiologist to see if which treatment option suits you best. ...Read more

Only in a Very Few: Generally, the answer to this is a very solid "no." this is a rare complication of people with another condition (on top of their afib) called wolff-parkinson-white syndrome (or wpw). In certain patients having both conditions, the top chamber is too-well connected to the bottom and can trigger ventricular fibrillation. ...Read more

Caffeine: Overdose of caffeine can cause svt or atrial fibrillation. ...Read more

Supraventricular: It is an extra heart beat which was initiated above the ventricles. That is usually an atrial premature beat but could be an AV junctional premature beat. Both are distinct from Ventricular premature beats. ...Read more

Many causes: First off, need an ultrasound (echo) of your heart, because structural abnormalites of the heart are the first big cause that needs to be eliminated. If your heart is structurally normal, then the other big cause for atrial arrhythmias is diet and drugs -- especially any caffeine or diet pills. Finally, sometimes it is just idiopathic -- which means we cannot find a cause. ...Read more

Irregular pulse: Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm that is intermittent (or paroxysmal), arising from the upper chambers of the heart (or atria), and is very chaotic, or irregular (fibrillating). It can cause problems because it usually drives the heart rate up too fast (giving symptoms and eventually weakening the heart) and can increase the risk of stroke. Causes of PAF are multiple. ...Read more