Tachycardia - the body to the limit? - Atrial

Atrial tachycardia: diagnosis and treatment

Atrial tachycardia - a rather less common form of supraventricular tachycardia. Sometimes it occurs in patients with heart disease, but often occurs in people with normal cardiac activity. Atrial tachycardia is almost always a benign course, but may be accompanied by unpleasant symptoms. To control arrhythmia in the case of troubled her symptoms prescribed drug therapy and catheter ablation method.

What is atrial tachycardia?

Atrial tachycardia occurs on a small area (hearth) tissue anywhere in the atria. This focus begins to generate electrical pulses and stimulate the heart, which leads to reduction palpitations of the heart muscle. Normally center generates electrical impulses only from time to time (sometimes a condition called paroxysmal atrial tachycardia) but occasionally this state may last for several days or even months. Some patients (especially the elderly or suffering from a serious form of heart failure) occurs more than one pathological focus.

Causes

Atrial tachycardia can occur for several reasons, in particular because of factors of heart .  By cardiac factors include congenital heart defects, heart valve dysfunction, and loss or weakening of the heart muscle (eg, due to a heart attack or inflammation) .  Attacks of atrial tachycardia can also be caused by drug / alcohol intoxication or metabolic disorders such as an overactive thyroid or adrenal glands .  However, most patients can not find any specific cause tachycardia .  If you suspect atrial tachycardia doctor prescribes some simple investigations (blood tests, ECG, electrophysical research) to identify the reasons, but the patient must be prepared to the exact cause of the disease can not be established .  Among the elderly short episodes of atrial tachycardia are so common that they can be considered normal .

Symptoms

Symptoms of atrial tachycardia may vary greatly. Most people either do not have any symptoms, or they feel palpitations (pulsation in the chest). Sometimes atrial tachycardia causes shortness of breath, dizziness, or chest pain. If the patient has speeded tachycardia, he quickly noticed the difference between a normal heart rhythm and tachycardia attack. Young people with healthy hearts usually notice symptoms of tachycardia Symptoms of tachycardia: the timely detection Than older people who have a slight increase in heart rate may go unnoticed.

Diagnostics

The only way to diagnose atrial tachycardia - ECG is done during an attack. Sometimes tachycardia detected by accident, for example, when a patient goes to the hospital with complaints of dizziness and pain in the heart Pain in the heart - always consult a doctor Or during stress testing with ECG. If the patient describes medical symptoms associated with atrial tachycardia, but the ECG has not been removed, the doctor usually tries to capture an attack by a Holter monitor, tracking heart activity for 24 or 48 hours. Finally, the cardiologist can stimulate an attack of atrial tachycardia during the electrophysiological study.

How dangerous atrial tachycardia?

Despite the fact that atrial tachycardia may be accompanied by unpleasant symptoms, it does not pose a serious threat to health. The heart usually copes with an increase in contractions, tachycardia and seizures rarely cause any problems, if there are no other complications, such as strokes. However, if the heart is forced to beat fast without a break for many weeks in a row, this condition may eventually weaken the heart muscle. But even at this stage of the process is often reversible if the tachycardia is successfully treated.

Samu atrial tachycardia not associated with an increased risk of blood clots or stroke, and anticoagulation (blood thinning) is usually not necessary. However, the doctor may advise the patient to take aspirin. You may need stronger medication (warfarin), if there are other cardiac arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation.

Treatment

Because atrial tachycardia usually is not harmful to health, treatment is required only if it is accompanied by symptoms. Often dysrhythmia accidentally found on an electrocardiogram, and did not require any specific treatment. However, if the patient is experiencing unpleasant symptoms, or permanent increase in heart rate creates a risk of increasing the size of the heart, the doctor may recommend medication or catheter ablation.

To control the ventricular rate during episodes of atrial tachycardia used beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, digoxin less. These drugs can be taken orally on a regular basis, or given intravenously if necessary, requiring emergency care. These drugs are also effective in preventing atrial tachycardia because they significantly reduce seizure frequency and severity of symptoms. Some patients may require a combination of different classes of drugs. Relief of symptoms is possible by reducing the frequency of attacks of atrial tachycardia or slow ventricular response (heart rate) through the use of beta-blockers or calcium channel blockers that contribute to electrical conduction delay in the AV node.

To maintain sinus rhythm cardiac antiarrhythmic drugs used if the above drugs are not able to eliminate the symptoms. These pharmacological treatments may act directly on the heart, slowing the electrical conduction in the heart. Many patients eventually require treatment with antiarrhythmic drugs for termination of atrial tachycardia. Drug therapy for atrial tachycardia is chosen by trial and error, so you can not confidently determine which medicines are best for each individual patient.

Maintenance of sinus rhythm with complete suppression of atrial tachycardia is not always possible using only drugs. You must constantly strive to improve the quality of life in view of the discomfort and possible side effects associated with the treatment regimen prescribed by the doctor. Antiarrhythmic drugs can pose a threat to health, because they increase the risk for other cardiac arrhythmias.

Patients who decide to abandon drug therapy for the following reasons:

• Due to the intolerable side effects of drugs;
• Because of the onset of symptoms and the repetition of attacks tachycardia, despite medical therapy;
• Because of the unwillingness to take daily synthetic drugs for a long period of time,

Your doctor may recommend catheter ablation, a minimally invasive procedure represents at which heart through a catheter fed discharge high power pulse of conduct violating bundle branch block. This procedure does not require opening the chest, carried out in an electrophysiology lab. The effectiveness of catheter ablation in the long term depends on the location and focus of atrial tachycardia is about 85-90%.

Forecast

Atrial tachycardia, a rhythm disturbance as an isolated, is not considered a condition dangerous to life. In most cases, you can control the disease by changing lifestyle, limit consumption of caffeine, alcohol, normal sleep and stress control How to beat stress? Create an oasis   and anxiety Anxiety - how to distinguish normal from disease? . Spontaneous resolution of symptomatic episodes are rare. Long-term episodes (usually continues for several months or even years) of continuous atrial tachycardia may be hazardous to health. Atrial tachycardia can cause irreversible changes in the atria. In addition, prolonged episodes of atrial tachycardia impede the restoration of normal sinus rhythm.