Arrhythmia occurs when the regular rhythm of the heart changes, for example, the frequency of contractions pathologically accelerates or excessively slows down. Cardiac arrhythmia is also determined when the heart beats irregularly, skips beats or separate parts – atria and ventricles – do not contract synchronously.
In our country, about 5 million people suffer from arrhythmia, along with other heart muscle lesions, and most of them are over 50 years old. Some also have heart defects, hypertension, atherosclerosis of the coronary vessels. In the vast majority of cases, arrhythmia itself is not dangerous to the life and health of the heart, but its presence can predispose the patient to a number of problems (for example, stroke). There are many different types of arrhythmias, their meaning and consequences are different.
The normal heartbeat is controlled by electrical signals sent from a specific segment of the heart muscle tissue called the sinus node. This natural pacemaker is located in the upper part of the right atrium. The heart is divided into four chambers: two atria from above and two ventricles from below. The job of the atria is to fill the ventricles with blood, which then do the hard work of pumping it through the rest of the body.
With a normal heartbeat, an electrical pulse travels through the muscle tissue, activating the ventricles a fraction of a second later than the atria. With arrhythmia, there are problems with this signal, the pulse deviates from the norm.
TYPES OF ARRHYTHMIAS
There are many different types and forms of arrhythmias, but those that affect the ventricles are usually more serious than atrial problems. Arrhythmias can be caused by either a slow heartbeat (bradycardia) or a fast heartbeat (tachycardia). Low heart rate may occur due to sinus node weakness syndrome. This happens when the heart’s natural pacemaker fails, causing slower transmission of electrical signals that contract the heart. Pathology is more common in the elderly and may worsen when taking certain medications (for example, beta-blockers), which also slow down the heart rate.
Heart block occurs when the electrical signal sent from the upper chambers of the heart (atria) to the lower chambers of the heart (ventricles) is interrupted. Without this signal transmission, the heart cannot contract effectively to pump blood into the body.
Increased heart rate may be the result of atrial fibrillation (AF). The arrhythmia clinic includes erratic signals that are triggered in rapid succession. They cause fibrillation, which is an uncoordinated tremor of the atrial muscle wall. It is often described as “heart cramps”. The atria stop pumping blood efficiently, but enough blood gets into the ventricles so that the heart can function. However, AF is potentially dangerous because blood can accumulate in the atrium and lead to the formation of a clot. If one of these clots gets into the brain, it causes a stroke. AF is the most common form of dangerous arrhythmia, affecting almost 1% of the population. It is more common in the elderly, affecting about 5% of the population over 69 years old. One study showed that one in four people over the age of 40 develops AF.