An Arrhythmia can be jolting to the patient who’s experiencing it. While often not life-threatening, it is upsetting to feel the heart start beating too slow, too fast, or in an irregular pattern.

If your heart is beating too fast, this is called Tachycardia. A slow heartbeat is called Bradycardia.

Most people experience a bout of arrhythmia once in a while, and it is not cause for serious concern. But there are situations where the heart is signaling that it’s unable to pump enough blood, which can cause damage to the brain, to the heart itself, or to other organs. Fortunately, we now have a handful of ways to treat arrhythmia.

The heart has an electrical system that controls its rate and rhythm. In a healthy adult, an electrical signal launches a new heartbeat some 60 to 100 times each minute. A signal from the sinoatrial (SA) node travels through special pathways in the right and left atria. This causes the atria to contract and pump blood into the heart’s two lower chambers, the ventricles.

The signal then leaves the atrioventricular (AV) node and eventually causes the ventricles to contract and pump blood to the lungs and the rest of the body. After the ventricles relax, the process starts all over again in the SA node.

A hitch in any part of the above system can cause an arrhythmia.

While most arrhythmias are disturbing but not dangerous, even a serious one can be successfully treated.

At Cardiology Health Care, Dr. Diego and Our Team Use the Following Treatments for Arrhythmia

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  • Pacemakers are battery-driven devices that are implanted near the collarbone. They monitor and regulate the heart’s rhythm with electrical impulses.
  • Cardioverter defibrillators are a type of pacemaker that is implanted to continuously monitor the heart’s rhythm. They are often prescribed for patients who have survived a heart attack.
  • Biventricular pacemakers stimulate both the right and the left ventricles to help the heart beat more regularly.
  • Cardiac Resynchronization therapy uses an implant designed for the same purpose as above: It paces both left and right ventricles and synchronizes contractions to make the heart beat more efficiently.
  • Cardiac ablation uses a burst of radio-frequency energy to destroy tiny areas that are causing abnormal electrical signals. This creates a scar that alters the pathway of the electrical impulses. Ablation can be used for atrial flutter and tachycardia.

Pacemakers can be permanent or temporary, depending on the type of treatment your doctor recommends. In addition to a pacemaker, there are a variety of treatments available for arrhythmia. The right therapy for you depends on your history, your condition, and our diagnostic analysis.

Call Cardiology Healthcare to set up an appointment with Dr. Diego or one of our staff. Heartbeat irregularities may be simply disturbing, or they may be a sign of serious underlying disease. For more information, and animations, check out the web site of the National Institutes of Health (NIH): https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/arr/