Risks of Heart Rhythm Disorder

Arrhythmia complaints are among the most common reasons for admission to the cardiology outpatient clinic. An arrhythmia is when a person normally feels his or her heartbeat uncomfortably. A healthy adult's heart beats 60-100 times a minute, and this happens in a certain order. The situations where the heart beats too fast are called tachycardia, and the situations where it slows down too fast are called bradycardia. Sometimes the heart rate is normal and it can occur in cases where the heart is working irregularly.

Arrhythmia most often presents with symptoms such as feeling of palpitations, lightheadedness, blackout and fainting. There are many different types of arrhythmia. Regardless of the type, the underlying reasons should be questioned in patients with rhythm disorders. The presence of intense stress, history of alcohol use, excessive consumption of tea and coffee, energy drink consumption, herbal medicine use, asthma treatment should be questioned. Necessary tests should also be performed in order to determine whether there is thyroid dysfunction and anemia.

In the type of arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation, the movement of blood in the heart slows down due to the irregular functioning of the heart and a clot is formed in the heart due to the thickening of the blood. Pieces that have broken off from this clot are also sent to change places in the body, causing vascular occlusion. Therefore, rhythm disorder brings along the risk of stroke.It is thought that approximately one third of all strokes are due to arrhythmia. In addition, arrhythmia-related stroke shows a more severe course and the consequences are also severe. In the type of arrhythmia we call atrial fibrillation, the frequency of stroke increases with age. If the rhythm disorder is accompanied by conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, previous stroke history, transient ischemic attack or other vascular disease, female gender, the risk will be higher.

Rapid rhythm disorders are typically expressed in the form of palpitations. Supraventricular tachycardia, which is the most common type of these, usually leads to palpitations that start suddenly and stop suddenly. It can also be expressed in the form of lightheadedness, fatigue, rapid breathing, dizziness, fluttering in the chest or neck vessels, or chest pain. These can only be diagnosed with the current pulse or ECG.

While heart rhythm disorder usually does not cause serious distress, sometimes it can be life threatening.

The first test to be performed as an examination is electrocardiography (ECG). Then, Echocardiography should be planned to evaluate heart valves and cardiac functions. However, rhythm disturbance may not be detected with these tests. Because many rhythm disorders come in attacks and the heart rhythm is usually found to be normal during the examination. In this case, with the Holter device, the heartbeat of the patient can be electronically recorded for 24 hours or longer, and rhythm disorder can be diagnosed.

The treatment of rhythm disorders varies according to the content, duration, repetition interval, and whether they are life-threatening. In some patients, only drug therapy allows the patients to relieve their complaints and reduces the number of attacks, while in some patients, the tissue focus that causes rhythm disturbance in the heart must be eliminated by a method called ablation. It can rarely be treated with a permanent pacemaker.